Derelict
by Pebr
Summary: The turtles are forced to leave their lair as a winter storm threatens to trap them underground, and Leo picks the worst time to be sick. Can they survive the cold while being separated? How bad is Leo's fever going to get?
1. Chapter 1

"I still don't understand why we couldn't just stay at the lair", Michelangelo complained, fixing his grip on Leo's hand. "It's _so_ cold."

"You know why", Donatello said calmly, eyes fixated on the screen of his shell cell. "This storm is going to be like nothing before – we have no idea how long it'll last and how much snow it'll bring. If we stayed at the lair we could be stuck for a long time. And when the snow finally melts there will be floods, and then we'd be trapped all over again, and…"

"I get it, I get it."

For the past few days the winter storm had been covering the city in a white blanket, and the piles of snow were already twice as big as they usually were. There was rarely snow in the sewers, but now the cold was everywhere. The wind was howling above them, and as they passed a storm drain, the wind blew powder-like snow down on the turtles. Both Mikey and Raph groaned at the cold, and Don stopped for a moment to look up at the drain, shielding his eyes from the wind. Leo…

Leo didn't seem to even notice. He was walking – at least trying to – between Mikey and Raph, both of his arms around their necks in order to help them support him. His head hung low and he had to concentrate on every step in order to not fall over. He had caught a cold just a few days earlier, and it hadn't been worse than a normal cold until this morning. It had been difficult to even get out of bed due to the ache in his muscles – and the _cold_ , he was _freezing_. They were all wearing their winter-clothing, but even the clothing didn't help the constant shivers. Even if there hadn't been so much snow, this winter would've been too cold for them. They were cold-blooded; they couldn't stay in the chilly lair or they'd end up freezing.

"Winter _sucks_ ", Mikey groaned.

"You were so excited just a few weeks ago", Raph scoffed.

"Yeah, well, I like snow, not the _cold_. Imagine warm snow. Don, is it possible to have warm snow?"

"The alleyways aren't covered in snow", Don pointed out, sounding surprised and completely ignoring Mikey. "I thought they'd be covered in it. That certainly makes things easier for us."

"For once", Raph growled. Their attention was drawn to Leo when he coughed, first weakly, then harder until they had to stop in order to let him catch his breath. Mikey was rubbing his shell, attempting to comfort him as his coughing slowly subsided.

"We're already close, Leo", Don said, watching his brother with worried eyes. Leo nodded without lifting his head.

"Sorry", he groaned, his voice weak. They all knew Leo was blaming himself for getting sick at a time like this, and they all kind of wanted to slap him for that. It's not like Leo had decided to be sick. Raph would've gladly smacked some sense into him, had he not looked so miserable.

Although, they had to admit that the timing could've been better.

Don sighed, closing his shell cell. Raph looked over Leo at Don, asking him a question with just his eyes. Don shook his head. "Still not answering. I just hope they're safe."

"Hey, you just spoke with them this morning. You think a little snow is going to stop them?" Mikey reminded him, and Don smiled a little.

"I hope I'm just overreacting", he sighed. He had indeed talked with April this morning, asking her if it would be alright for them to stay in her – or _their_ apartment, April and Casey lived together these days – until the storm had passed. The two of them had decided to take some time for themselves and had headed north to the farmhouse. It worried him because it was _north_ , and the storm would probably be even harsher there. What worried him more was that they hadn't heard of them since this morning.

"Well, I'm glad we can use April's place. She has a _real_ heating system!"

"Keep up that positive attitude, Mikey", Don said. "We don't know how bad the storm's going to get."

* * *

"Shouldn't we go up from here?" Raphael asked after a while, stopping under a manhole they often used.

"No", Donatello said, continuing forward. He was looking at his cell again, running a program which tracked the movements of the storm. "That manhole probably has a lot of snow on top of it; we have to find a narrower alley with less snow."

"But… that means more walking topside", Mikey whined, but didn't get to complain more as his whine turned into a startled yelp. Leo had collapsed against him, his legs unable to hold his own weight anymore. Raphael groaned, angry at himself for not noticing, pulling Leo closer to himself before carefully helping him sit down.

Leo moaned at the contact with the cold sewer floor, keeping his eyes tightly shut. It was a clear sign that he was in pain, Leo was never very vocal about his pains. Don and Mikey were instantly kneeling in front of him.

"Leo, how are you feeling?" Don asked, touching Leo's forehead before cupping his cheek. Leo leaned against the warm touch, letting out a shaky breath.

"Cold", he murmured, blinking up at Don. Keeping his eyes open made his headache worse, so he shut them again and lowered his head.

Don eyed the screen of his phone with a frown. He knew they had to move faster or it'd be impossible to exit the sewers through a manhole, and taking an alternate exit would take a long time. Leo was in no condition to travel more than what was necessary. He felt bad for making Leo hurry, but he knew that the more they waited, the slower Leo would become. They'd have to continue.

As if reading his thoughts, Raph kneeled as well, placing his other hand under Leo's knees and the other under his shell, lifting him up bridal-style. Leo opened his eyes with alert, ready to protest, but Raph silenced him with his gaze.

"Should've done this from the start", Raph mumbled. Leo wasn't very easy to carry, none of them were, thanks to their shells, but this would be faster anyways.

Leo still felt like struggling, hating to be such a burden. Besides, being carried by Raph… it was embarrassing. He knew he'd hear from this when he was better, how _poor sick Leo_ got carried by Raph. Being carried eased some of his pains, though; his vision was still swimming, but he didn't need to struggle with walking. He was also able to feel some of Raphael's warmth while being pressed against him. He was still cold and felt sicker than ever, but after a while he let himself close his eyes and press his head against Raphael. The headache made him swallow his pride.

"...So, what's the site say?" Mikey asked after a moment of silence, peeking over Don's shoulder as they walked. Different numbers were flashing on the screen again, and Mikey didn't bother looking for long since he had no idea what they meant.

"It's going to start snowing harder soon", Don said. He bit his lip absentmindedly. "There's still something I need to get from the lair… I just thought we'd have more time…"

"Wait – you're saying we don't have time to go back? I didn't get my comics! And snacks! And-"

"How much time do we have?" Raph asked, ignoring Mikey, who continued to panic over his DVD's and games.

"I need to see the surface first", Don scratched his head, glancing at the duffel bags he was carrying. He was the only one who was carrying things from the lair, since Raph and Mikey had been helping Leo. He had really counted on that going back would've been possible. His bags had some medicine, food and things from his lab, but not much else.

He closed the cell again, placing it on his belt. But in order to reach his belt he had to lift the bottom of his jacket and reach inside his pants, making Mikey snicker.

"Oh, Donnie, control your _needs_ ", Mikey teased, receiving a dry look from Don. None of them was used to clothes, feeling like they only got on the way. But for them, going out in this weather without them would be a death-wish.

They arrived under the manhole they were going to use, and Mikey climbed up first. It took him time to push the cover aside; quite a lot of snow was already covering the alley. As soon as the cover was moved, the wind threw snow against Mikey's face, almost making him fall back down the ladders.

"Well", Mike coughed, "at least we could have heck of a snow-fight up here."

It was still daytime, so they had to be careful on the surface. People would most likely be inside their homes or trying to get home, but you never knew who'd be wandering outside. The sky was filled with grey clouds, so it was pretty dark already, making things a bit easier for them. The alley was empty, and as Mikey climbed up he accidently kicked snow down the manhole. Don was the one getting the rain of snow, mumbling to himself as he wiped it away.

"Leo? Think you can climb up?" Don asked as he turned to look at his sick brother. "Leo?"

Don touched his arm gently, making Leo turn his head towards him, but he wasn't getting an answer. It was a struggle for him to open his eyes and locate Don's face. Leo had probably been slipping in and out of consciousness, but he wasn't shivering so much anymore. When Don felt his face again he figured out why; his skin was starting to feel warm instead of cold. He cursed inside his head; if the fever could've just waited a bit longer…

"Leo, Raph is going to put you down. Can you stand?"

Raph lowered Leo down so he could place his feet on the ground, and Don took Leo's other arm to help him balance. He stood on his own, leaning a bit against Donatello, but seemed to be able to carry his own weight. Don guided Leo's hands on the ladder, still holding his arm.

"Doesn't look like he can", Raph mumbled, distrusting Leo's ability to climb. The last thing they needed was Leo to fall down the ladders. But Leo placed his legs on the ladder, stubbornly pushing himself up. He grit his teeth together as nausea washed over him, but he'd be damned if he couldn't do something as simple as this, especially after being _carried_.

He managed to climb, but could feel Raphael climb right after him, afraid of him falling. As soon as he got close to the surface he could feel Mikey's hands grabbing him and helping him up. He expected the cold breeze to make him shiver, but instead it felt kind of good against his suddenly flushed skin. He didn't notice he was leaning against Mikey until his brother had to hold him up with both hands.

Leo balanced himself, feeling embarrassed once again. He felt Raphael grab his other arm.

"I'm fine now, Raph", he said weakly, tired of someone constantly holding him up. But his weak voice didn't sound convincing even to himself; Raph only snorted.

They got to April's place without seeing any humans, and by then the wind had really picked up. Snow had started to fall harder, and they were all glad to get inside.

After making sure the house was alright and there weren't any unwelcome guests in the shop – which wasn't that rare, the gang activity wasn't as high as it had once been, but April still sometimes had some unwelcome guests trying to break into her shop – they moved to the second floor, setting a bed for Leo on the sofa. Mikey and Raph helped Leo out of his winter clothing while Don meddled with the heating system, and after Leo was comfortably on the sofa Raph and Mikey checked the kitchen.

"They didn't leave much of anything here", Raph informed Don, snatching a bag of chips Mikey had found away from him.

"That's to be expected", Don said. "They weren't planning on coming back for at least a few weeks."

"We're not gonna last with… cans of _tuna_ and soup for very long", Raph mumbled. "We gotta go back to the lair."

Don sighed, walking to Leo. He was sweating and gritting his teeth together, so Don dragged his duffel closer, searching for the first-aid kit he had brought with him.

As he opened a bottle of painkillers Mikey brought him a glass of water, and Don carefully placed a hand under Leo's head. "You're going to feel better after you take these", Don urged Leo to take the medicine.

Leo fell asleep soon after that, and the three of them looked outside with grim faces.

"So, we going or not?" Raph urged, tapping the floor with his foot.

"…Well, fine… we need to do it anyways, so the sooner the better", Don finally said, turning to Mikey. "Keep an eye on Leo, Mikey. We won't take long."

"But he's just sleeping; I know you don't know which comics to pick!"

"Mikey", Raph warned. Raph hated the cold and wanted to get this over and done with, he wasn't in a good mood. Mikey sighed. "Alright… at least take some, please?"

"We will", Don promised.

* * *

Donatello had his eyes glued to the screen once again, even as they half jogged, half ran to the lair.

"Oh no", he suddenly said, coming to a halt.

"What is it?" Raph asked, stopping to look at his brother.

"The batteries died", Don said, sounding shocked; like it was something that couldn't happen.

"Not surprised", Raph said, crossing his arms. "You've been staring at those numbers the whole day."

"Those are _important_ numbers."

"They're just numbers, Don. What happens just happens, we just gotta deal."

"They help us to _deal_ , Raph. With them I can predict how much time we have, and how soon it's going to get worse and- just give me yours."

"Could've just asked", Raph mumbled, digging out his shell-cell. Expect that it wasn't on his belt. "…Oops. I guess I left it with the stuff we already took to April's…"

Don took a deep breath. It usually took a lot to get on his nerves, but the pressure of the situation was getting to him and he felt angry at how careless Raphael was being – it was as if he wasn't taking the situation seriously. He probably didn't realize just how bad the storm was going to get, thinking it wouldn't be a big deal. How did Leo ever make him listen?

" _Oops?_ Raph, how could you just leave it? You're supposed to have it with you at all times – especially at a time like this! If we got separated during weather like this and we couldn't track you-"

"We were in a hurry!" Raph tried to defend himself, a bit surprised at how snappy Don was being. But then again, Don never took their safety lightly. He looked like he was about to continue, but Raph placed a hand on his shoulder.

"And we still are. Ya can yell later."

They ran in silence, and Don's frustration only grew. Only this time he felt mad at himself, for he feared that every second they wasted would somehow cost them. And here he was, losing time by getting lost in a stupid fight with Raph… wasn't that Leo's job? At least Leo would've been the one to realize that there was no time to fight, but now it had been Raph, which only made him feel more stupid. Thinking about Leo led him to worry about him; the common cold never put him out like this, he was always stubborn about being up and doing something. Only when he had a fever he stayed in bed, and sometimes he had to be forced to stay. They definitely didn't usually run around in the sewers in the middle of the winter if one of them was _sick_. That was beyond stupid, but it wasn't like they had had a choice.

And what if it wasn't just a fever, what if he was coming down with something worse? The walk through the sewers could've easily made his condition worse. He should be the one with Leo; if he was getting worse they had no way of knowing now that neither one of them had their shell cells, they had no way of telling Mikey how to treat him if things got worse and-

They arrived to the lair, Raph going for the kitchen whereas Don emptied his lab of the things he thought he'd need. He pushed the worry away for now, focusing on finding the things he needed. Half the stuff he touched was dropped to the floor in his hurry, and he paused for a second to calm himself down. If he hurried like this, he'd most likely forget something important, and he couldn't afford to do that now. There was no knowing when they'd come back the next time.

They unplugged all the electronics and tried to shield them in case the flood got inside. They'd have to mentally prepare Mikey if they'd lose all their TV's and game consoles if they didn't want to listen him wail for weeks.

"Don't forget the comics. Mikey will be impossible to live with if he doesn't get them", Don joked, even though the worry was still heavy on his mind. Raph smirked.

"Not worse than you without your coffee at four AM", Raph grinned back. He had made sure to pick some for Don.

Not like Don would be spending his nights with his inventions anytime soon, but still.

"Nobody is worse than Mikey without his comics", Don argued.

They finished their packing, taking one last glance around. Don had explained that the lair _should_ be able to withstand the floods, but anything could happen, so they tried to grab everything they didn't want to get destroyed.

"Oh, one more thing", Don suddenly said, hurrying back to his lab.

Just as he disappeared inside the room there was an electric hiss and the lair went dark.

Both of them stood in a shocked silence for a few seconds, until Raphael's cursing could be heard.

"Where are the freaking flashlights?"

"Didn't you and Mikey use them just last week?"

Raph slapped his face. They had, and they had used them to look for something in the garage. That's where they had probably left them.

"…Don't we have more than two of them?" Raph asked carefully, clumsily making his way to Don's lab.

Don had booted up one of his laptops, making the light of the screen light the room.

"We do", he answered as Raph entered the room. He started to type on the laptop, and the familiar numbers appeared on the screen. "They should be somewhere around here. Search."

"Great", Raph mumbled.

* * *

Mikey was pacing around. He could sit down and watch TV, but that would just make him feel even more useless. He stopped in front of one of the windows, staring at the white sight. Snow was coming down even harder, and the wind was getting louder, howling in the corners. As he looked up to the grey sky he wasn't even sure if it was snow or _ice_ that was coming down.

He glanced nervously at the clock; Don and Raph had stayed for over an hour now. It shouldn't take this long. Normally he wouldn't worry, but Don had said there wasn't much time left before the storm would get worse. Of course they'd be safe underground, but if they couldn't get back topside…

Mikey took his shell cell from his belt, pressing the button which connected him to Don. No answer, only a short beeping and the call cut off. Mikey swallowed nervously. They never turned their cells off, so the short beeping meant Don's must've run out of batteries. Or that it was broken. Mikey hurried to call Raph next, not wanting to think about the possibility that Don had gotten hurt, and almost jumped right out of his skin when the quiet apartment was filled with Raphael's ringtone.

Mikey hurried to end the call, and it was silent again. Expect that the sound had woken up Leo, who was groaning under the blankets they had buried him under. Mikey dug Raphael's cell from the bags before kneeling next to Leo, placing a hand on his plastron to let him know he was there. Leo's breathing was too fast, and opening his eyes still seemed to be difficult for him.

"Morning, sunshine", Mikey smiled, but couldn't erase the worry from his voice. Since he couldn't contact Don and Raph, he had no idea if they were alright. They should've been back by now, right? The way to the lair didn't take this long. But they were just going to the lair, what could've possibly happened?

' _With our luck, pretty much anything…_ ' he thought grimly before moving his attention back to Leo, who was looking around with hazy eyes while trying to push himself up.

"You'd better just lay still, Leo", Mikey said, gently pressing him back down. Leo grabbed his arm, opening his mouth to speak, but no words came. Instead he started to cough, and Mikey had to grab the edge of his shell and help him lay onto his side in order to make the coughing easier.

"There there", Mikey tried to soothe him as the coughing died down. It was painful to listen as Leo tried to hack his lungs out, and after it was over, it was quiet again. Mikey continued rubbing Leo's arm, really wishing Don was here. Don wasn't a doctor, either, but he'd know what to do if Leo's condition gets worse. And by the looks of it, it would.

"You need anything, bro? Water? More painkillers? Just nod if you do", Mikey asked, carefully touching Leo's face. He was burning!

"Don, Raph", Leo croaked finally, moving his head to look at Mikey. "Where…?"

"They went to get something from the lair, don't worry", Mikey said. ' _I'm already worrying enough for the both of us_ ', he added in his mind, getting up to look for the thermometer.

When he got back Leo was sitting up, trying to get up from the sofa again, but failing. Mikey hurried to still his movements, but didn't push him back down, letting him sit and sat down next to him. At least he was as stubborn as usual when it came to having a fever.

"Dude, just stay still, would you?" Mikey shook the thermometer a few times before offering it to Leo. "Just relax, I need to know how high your fever is."

"Doesn't matter", Leo spoke with a flat voice, turning his head away from the thermometer. "They shouldn't be out – the storm, we have to… get them…"

He didn't seem to have the energy to continue, so Mikey took advantage of that and gently grabbed Leo's chin, turning his head and pressing the thermometer against his lips. Leo opened his mouth, but by the looks of it, he probably wasn't even realizing what he was doing. His eyes were closed again and sitting up seemed to be too tiring, since he was already starting to lean on Mikey. Mikey sighed, draping the blanket over Leo and wrapping his arms around him as he waited for the thermometer to do its job.

"They're not outside, Leo, they're at the lair. They're fine", Mikey spoke softly, unsure which one of them needed to hear that more. He was still afraid that something had happened, but what could he do? He couldn't just leave Leo. Leo mumbled something against the thermometer, too tired to speak. Mikey wasn't sure if Leo had even been listening to what he had said. But that was good, right, the best thing for a sick person was to sleep, right?

The thermometer beeped and Mikey was dragged back from his thoughts. When he checked the tiny screen he almost dropped the damn thing.

"104?" Mikey gasped, pushing Leo away in order to look at his face properly. His cheeks were flushed and he moaned quietly as he lost contact with Mikey's skin. He blinked tiredly up at his younger brother.

' _Alright… just gotta stay calm. But what the heck do I do?!_ '

"Leo, uh- how- how're you feeling?" Mikey asked nervously, but got no answer as Leo's head drooped and he moaned again. The sound wasn't loud, more like a small whimper, meaning that Leo was in pain again. Mikey noticed he was shivering again, too – he had no idea what to do. Should he make a cold bath? Would that bring down the fever? Or would it be too much? Panic began to fill him again, and Mikey helped Leo to lie down as he hurried to the window. Still no sign of anyone.

"Think, think", Mikey murmured to himself, biting his finger. He helped Leo to take some painkillers – he had no idea how many he had already taken today – and dipped a cloth in cold water, placing it on Leo's forehead. As he was petting Leo's cheek he realized that maybe the manhole was too heavy with snow and ice and Don and Raph just weren't able to lift the cover of the manhole, and were stuck inside the sewers, waiting for him to come help them. Mikey slapped himself for not realizing – and hurried to put on some clothing.

"Leo", Mikey stopped next to the sofa before heading out. "I'll be back in a sec with Don, he can help – just hang on, alright?"

Leonardo looked like he didn't quite understand, so Mikey gave him one last pat before turning away. Before he could go he felt a tug at the corner of his scarf, having to turn back to Leo who was gripping his clothing. Leo pulled him all the way down to his knees, and it surprised him that Leo suddenly had such strength.

When he was down on his knees and face to face with Leo, Leo grabbed the front of his jacket to keep Mikey in place.

" _No_ ", he said firmly, which didn't sound very firm considering his condition.

"What?" Mikey was totally caught off guard, not expecting Leo to try to stop him. Not expecting Leo to be _able_ to stop him – well, not like he _really_ was; his grip wasn't very strong. Seemed like even the fever couldn't defeat the big brother instinct. It was funny in some way, Mikey just didn't know in what way.

"They need my help, Leo – I'll be back in a _second_. You won't even notice I was ever gone, just rest."

"No, if you go- the snow will- it's cold, too cold, it's…" Leo spoke in broken sentences, pausing to think about what he was talking about. "No, actually, it's kind of warm- hot, even- I, I feel very warm, I…" Leo continued to mumble something about how warm he was feeling, the fever obviously making him talk nonsense. Mikey realized he was wasting time listening to him, Leo had no idea what was going around him, didn't know that there wasn't time to be wasted if Don and Raph were out there in the cold.

"Jeez!" Mikey huffed, easily removing Leo's clingy hands from the front of his jacket and standing up. He knew that even in his feverish state Leo was still trying to care for him, but right now he'd be helping by just staying down. Mikey just hoped that Leo wouldn't try to get up again after he'd left.

He covered Leo with the blanket once again, and it looked like Leo had passed out. He had no idea if that was good or bad, but the sooner he'd get Don, the sooner he could help Leonardo.

It was colder down in the shop since it wasn't in use now, and all the heating was focused on the second floor. The dark shop was also kind of creepy; the wind was howling outside, trying to come in from every corner and crack. Nobody in their right mind would want to go outside in this weather.

As soon as he opened the door the wind almost smacked it back closed. And as he had expected, it _was_ raining icy snow. It tingled his skin, almost hurting if he faced it right on. He turned his back to the wind, closing the door of the shop.

He didn't even get to turn away from the door; a huge chunk of hard, iced snow hanged from the edge of the roof, and the bang of the closed door made it fall down. Mikey had no idea what hit him; he was out cold before falling into the snow.


	2. Chapter 2

Darkness coated the room as Don closed his laptop. He stuffed it into one of his bags and in the light of the flashlights they left the lair. As soon as the door closed Don facepalmed himself.

"What now?" Raph asked impatiently.

"I just… realized that I could've charged my cell in the lair", Don mumbled, embarrassed for not realizing it sooner.

"But the power's out", Raph pointed out.

"I have some spare batteries in the lab", Don said, already glancing back to the lair.

"Doesn't matter anymore", Raph said. "We're going back now, anyways."

"We took longer than expected because of the blackout and all", Don spoke as he looked back in front of him and they started to walk. "Mikey must be worried. I hope the whole city isn't out of power."

"Mikey must be freaking out if it's dark", Raph grinned, but his grin faded quickly. He had no idea how much time had passed, and if Mikey was alone with a very sick Leo with no way to contact them… ah, what was he thinking about – Mikey wasn't a wimp – well, not always – he could handle the situation. It couldn't have been much longer than an hour anyways.

"I hope they're doing fine", Don said quietly.

"They're better than us anyways", Raph mumbled, fixing the collar of his jacket. "They're inside a warm apartment and they don't have to carry all these bags!"

The way back felt longer. They couldn't run with all the things they were carrying, but they still tried to hurry. When they got to the manhole Raph put his bags down, climbed up the ladder and tried to push the cover up. It didn't move.

"It probably froze over", Don said, already deep in thought trying to come up with a solution. Raphael's solution was to bang the cover with his fist, but he only got a numb hand from that. He still tried, but when he almost fell over, Don told him to come back down.

"So what now?" Raph asked, crossing his arms.

"If I just had charged the cell…" Don mumbled and Raph felt a bang of guilt. It had been him who said they wouldn't need it. Don seemed to notice and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"We couldn't know", Don said, frowning and pulling his hand back. "Actually, no, _I_ should've known. I knew the weather was like this – I _should've_ known we couldn't get it open. I should've prepared-"

Raphael grabbed Don's shoulder in turn, shaking him a bit. "Stop it, Don. Let's just think of something else."

It was rare for Raph to be the voice of reason – wait, wasn't this the second time today already? – and Don sighed. He was, again, letting himself be consumed by the situation. This was probably the reason Leo was the leader – he could keep calm and collected even when the plan backfired.

"The closest way up is to go back to the lair and use our garage to exit", Don said after a moment, sounding defeated. The idea of having to go all the way back again and then _walk_ to April's did not sound appealing to either of them.

"Why didn't we just do that in the first place?" Raph asked.

"Well, the power's out", Don said, and Raph lowered his head. Of course, no power, no elevator to the garage.

"That's not an option, then", Raph crossed his arms. "The power's probably still out."

"It is. We have some spare generators – I'm just… not sure if the power would be enough", Don closed his eyes to think. He didn't want to make the trip to the lair again for nothing. What would they do if he couldn't get the elevator running? They could both hear how the wind roared above them. By the time they'd even get to the surface the storm would've only picked up on volume. It would be difficult for two cold-blooded creatures – if they even found a way to get there.

"We don't really have a choice, do we?"

As they walked back, the situation was weighting down both of them. They proceeded in silence, listening to the wind ruling the surface. It constantly reminded them how they'd soon be entering its icy kingdom, and even the mere thought was enough to make them shiver.

 _If_ they could get there.

"We have to call him", Don said when they re-entered the lair, hurrying to change the batteries of the cell. "To let Mike know why we're taking so long."

Raph didn't argue, just waited patiently until the cell came back to life. The cell informed them that Mikey had tried to call, many times, so Don hurried to call him back. The cell beeped, patiently waiting for someone to pick up in the other end, but nobody did. Not even after the second or third try. They called Leo's cell as well, ending up with the same results.

Both of them felt cold.

* * *

As they worked to get the elevator up and running they both drowned themselves in the work. By thinking about something else they didn't have to think about the unanswered calls.

Donatello was doing most of the work, while Raph was handing him tools and helping with the things he could.

"This is taking too long", Don muttered. He hadn't had time to check on the status of the storm for a while, so he had no idea what was going on the surface. The howling of the wind was audible in the pipes, and it didn't sound good at all. He hoped April's apartment could withstand the wind without anything breaking.

Eventually they got the generator running, and the elevator came back to life. They moved all their bags inside, already tired of having to carry them around, and stepped inside as well.

They held their breath as the elevator moved up, praying for the generator to be enough. They felt almost victorious, but probably shouldn't have, because the elevator let out a loud groan and went dark, stopping. Raph grabbed the wall, prepared for the drop, but there was a loud noise outside the elevator and the drop never came.

Don leaned against the wall, letting himself fall into a sitting position, hiding his face behind his hands. It hadn't been enough. They were stuck.

"Why didn't we drop?" Raph asked, remembering the last time they went out of power and the elevator dropped. Nobody had got hurt, but it hadn't been a pleasant experience.

"I installed emergency brakes after the last time", Don explained with a faraway voice. Raphael felt his way around the darkness, finding Don curled up against the wall. Raph kicked one of the bags out of the way, sitting next to Don. It was a bit chilly in the elevator, and they could hear the wind howling inside their garage. They weren't far. They had gotten close, but not close enough.

"Don…" Raph started, but Don shook his head, even though Raph couldn't see it in the dark.

"Don't, Raph. Don't try to tell me it isn't my fault. We're even further from getting topside than we were before this!"

"You know we can just open the hatch on the roof and get out", Raph said, trying to remain calm. Don's mood was slowly starting to get on his nerves; it felt like every time they faced a problem Don was ready to give up. He knew that wasn't the case, that Don just needed time to collect himself, but still, it was starting to get annoying.

"I know, but we'd have to leave most of our stuff here", Don said silently. The trip would've been for nothing. Leaving Mikey and Leo alone would've been for _nothing_.

"We can bring some", Raph said, getting back on his feet and trying to reach for the top of the elevator, but he wasn't tall enough. "Little help?"

* * *

Leo woke up gasping, trying to find air to fill his lungs with. He rolled off the sofa onto the floor, his vision becoming blurry at the edges as he fought his own throat choking him. Eventually he managed to take a raspy breath, taking a long gulp of sweet air, only managing to make himself start coughing. Luckily it wasn't as violent as before, but after it was over he lay on the floor, waiting for his heart to stop beating so wildly. It didn't.

He realized that a ringtone was playing somewhere, but his feverish mind didn't realize he was supposed to go towards it. Sluggishly he moved his head, realizing he was on the floor. His muscles ached, but he managed to turn himself on his plastron and then push himself up on his knees.

The headache came with no warning, momentarily blinding him – and at the same time he felt sick, fearing he'd throw up. He leaned against the sofa, gritted his teeth as he waited for the nausea to pass. It faded, but left him with an uneasy feeling. Which had nothing to do with his sickness – he realized he was alone.

He looked around again, blinking had to keep his vision clear. Why was the room dark? The cell wasn't ringing anymore, making the apartment silent. Only the raging storm could be heard. Storm – Leo remembered, he had tried to stop Mikey from leaving, but hadn't succeeded.

With shaking legs Leo went to the window, but it was already too dark to see much of anything.

The only thing he knew for sure was that this was the only place declared safe and he was alone in here. Meaning his brothers were out there, not safe.

The way down to the shop was difficult. His joints and muscles protested every movement, and he fell the last two steps of the stairs, landing hard on his knees and hands. He whimpered as the headache flared up again, holding his head with both hands until the nausea died down enough to get back up.

Leonardo leaned against the cold door, shivering. He wasn't wearing his winter clothing, there hadn't been time to think about something like clothes when he wasn't sure where his brothers were or where he was even going to start looking. It didn't matter that he could hardly stand; he had to find them. He tried to push the door open, but it wouldn't budge. Frustration washed over his feverish mind and he took a step back to kick the door, until he realized that the door opened the other way around. He shook, overwhelmed by his weakness and stupidness, another wave of dizziness washing over him, almost taking him down.

Leo shielded himself from the merciless wind, staring at the whiteness the city was being buried under. It was dark, but the nearby streetlights illuminated the street. Not like they were much help; the wind was blowing almost sideways, not giving him much vision.

But he didn't need it; Leo stepped forward, his leg hitting something, causing him to almost fell over. As Leo lowered his gaze his heart sank.

Mikey lay on the ground, almost buried in the snow. Leo was immediately kneeling next to him, wrapping his arms around him, trying to lift him up. Mikey's skin was ice to his touch, especially since the fever was burning him up. They were horrible contrasts, the other burning while the other was freezing.

Mikey was breathing – he was _breathing_ , Leo's fear died down a little, but just a little. He managed to lift Mikey's upper body, holding Mikey on his lap to shield him from the wind, but he knew he was too weak to carry him.

He was leaning over Mikey, face close to his, hand on his cheek.

"Mikey", he called his brother weakly, cringing at how quiet his voice was. "Mikey!" he tried again, but his voice wasn't much louder. The wind swallowed his attempts to wake up his brother.

The wind was merciless, making him shiver despite his fever and huddle close to Mikey. Snow was falling on them, melting against Leo's hot skin. The cold cleared his thoughts a bit, and he knew they couldn't stay here. They had to move.

But staring at Michelangelo's pale face had numbed him. Seeing him limp, buried in the snow- for a moment, he had thought that- He was tired, he didn't want to move. Relieved, too- Mikey was alive, breathing, so he only wanted to hold him.

 _You can't!_ screamed his reason, almost defeated by the fever. Why couldn't he? Leo's eyelids were drooping again; the cold had already numbed his fingers, made him drowsy as worry slowly left him. He pressed his forehead against Mikey's, startled by how cold even Mikey's face really was. He had forgotten how cold Mike was since his fingers had gone numb, unable to feel it. But now he realized Mikey was cold and getting _colder_ and he _had_ to move.

Leonardo gathered his strength and moved himself so he could place his hands under Mikey's elbows, starting to drag him back inside. Mikey was heavy; his clothing had gotten wet by laying in the snow, which did not make things any easier for him.

As soon as he had gotten Mikey inside and away from the door Leo was kneeling again, desperately trying to open the buttons of Mikey's jacket. His numb fingers couldn't open the buttons, so he just tore the jacket open, making buttons scatter around. He had no idea how long Mikey had been in the snow and he hadn't even known, letting the snow bury him-

"Mikey, wake up", Leo tried again, shaking him. No response. Dizziness washed over him again, and Leo didn't know if it was the fever or just the horrible worry he was feeling again. He had to push Mikey onto his side in order to remove the wet clothing, and even such a small thing was exhausting. Tearing open the jacket had taken too much out of him and he laughed a bitter, shaky, scared laugh, making himself cough- he had no idea how he had managed to drag Mikey inside.

When the clothes had been thrown away Leo hovered over Mikey's face again, placing his hands on either side of his head. He was shaking, almost falling over on top of Mikey.

"Mikey!" he rasped, slapping his cold cheek. Leo felt like choking again, trying to stop his hands from shaking. What was he supposed to do? He knew the answer was obvious, but his mind was too foggy to think properly. He took a shaky breath, trying to calm himself down – but as he looked at Mikey's pale, unresponsive face, his thoughts become blurry again. He just wanted to stop thinking, stop hurting, stop being so afraid- he wasn't used to reacting like this, he could usually keep his calm, but now- he just wanted Mikey to wake up-

" _Please_ ", he whispered. He was pretty much lying on top of Mikey now, too tired to hold himself up. Mikey was too cold; he hoped his own body-warmth would bring at least some warmth to Mikey. Warmth… that's what he was supposed to be doing. Warming Mikey up, he was probably hypothermic- yes, the heaviness in his mind was fading, he had to get Mikey up in the second floor, under blankets-

" _Jeez_ , Leo, when did you get so _fat_?"

Leo's head shot up, and he looked down at Mikey with wide eyes. Mikey's voice was weak, but he greeted Leo with a tiny grin.

"I like you too and all, but maybe this isn't the right time for this, huh?" Mikey continued his joking with a weak voice, referring to the way Leo was on top of him. Leo hurried to get up, never taking his eyes away from Mikey.

Mikey made a move to get up, but decided it wasn't a good idea. The movement made his head hurt and he was aching all over, feeling very, very cold. Kind of confused, as well; he looked around, moving his head as little as possible, not really registering where he was even though April's shop was more than familiar to him.

Leo grabbed his arm, and Mikey hadn't even realized how numb he was until Leo started rubbing it in order to get his blood flowing again. Leo's touch was almost too warm, and the warmth returning to him made his cold skin tingle uncomfortably. Mikey kind of wanted to drag his hand away from Leo.

"Mikey", Leo said, and Mikey wouldn't have known he was speaking had he not been watching his face. Mikey's eyes got a bit wide – he remembered now, Leo had a wicked fever, and here he was, kneeling on the cold floor with him! He was on the floor, right?

"Leo, you- you should be sleeping- wh, why are we even here?" Mikey got confused towards the end of his sentence, trying to look around again. He was stopped by Leo's hand cupping his cheek, bringing his eyes back to Leo's face.

"Need you to walk the stairs", Leo tried to make his sentence as short as he could, and Mikey could just barely understand what he was saying. Mikey blinked up at him a few times before groaning.

"No, I'm good here… don't wanna move…" Mikey mumbled, closing his eyes. Yeah, it was cold lying here, and the warmth returning to him felt uncomfortable, but he knew that moving would've been _more_ uncomfortable.

Leonardo tried to haul him up, but he didn't even budge. Mikey let out a tiny laugh, because hey, it was funny.

"Guess I'm the fat one", Mikey chuckled at Leo's attempts, suddenly finding the situation very funny despite the cold that made his voice shake. Leo didn't agree- he felt horrible, and Mikey wasn't making any sense, he wasn't even trying to get up. Leo had to shut his eyes for a moment when black dots danced in his eyes. All he had been doing had been thanks to the sudden adrenaline and the worry, and now the first was starting to fade, leaving him more and more exhausted.

"You okay?" Mikey asked, having seemed to forget the fact that Leo was sick, even though he had remembered it just a moment ago. Leo forced his eyes open, grabbing Mikey's shoulders again to shake him.

" _Get up_ ", he commanded. Mikey lolled his head to the side, completely ignoring Leo. Mike never ignored him when he used his _I'm your leader, obey me_ -voice, but guess the fever didn't really make him sound that convincing. That, or Mikey wasn't even listening. His frustration grew and he slapped Mikey again.

That seemed to get his attention, since Mikey turned his face back towards him and looked like he had just been deeply wounded.

"W-what was that for?" Mikey asked, trying to sound like he was on the verge of tears. Leo didn't care, he knew Mikey always joked, no matter the situation, but he knew Mikey would've been helping him had he been in his right mind. He obviously wasn't, so he focused on trying to get him up.

"You", he started, "have to", Leo strengthened his grip, "get up!"

Michelangelo groaned again, finally moving into a sitting position. As soon as he was up he buried his face into his hands, moaning as he leaned against Leo.

"Ow, my head…" he mumbled, and Leo realized that Mikey had gotten hit by something. His instincts flared up again – had someone tried to hurt Mikey? Was that the reason he had collapsed? Was there still some threat outside? He had not seen any wounds, but now he felt the need to check, but couldn't since Mikey was leaning on him. He tried to push Mikey away in order to get up and go check, but Mikey was putting even more of his weight on him.

"Mik-", Leo started, but suddenly Mikey's whole weight was on him and he toppled over, too weak to hold Michelangelo's weight. He fell down on his shell with Mikey on top of him.

The sudden movement made Leo breathless – or maybe it was Mikey's weight on him, he didn't really know – and he felt nauseous again. Mikey seemed to feel quite the opposite; his skin was still wet from the wet clothes, and the warmth was starting to feel nice instead of bad, so Leo's warm and dry skin felt very welcoming. Mikey cuddled against Leo, pressing their bodies together and pretty much preventing Leo from moving, locking him in his grip.

Leo's patience was at its end – he would've let Mikey stay close for warmth, but not now! His own condition wasn't getting any better like this, or was it? His mind had cleared up, since he was able to think about what was good for them instead of just… laying still. Expect that now he was doing exactly that, just being still, since Mikey had him in his death grip. He was about to command him again, but realized that his voice had come to the end of its journey. No matter how much he tried to form a sound nothing came out, only leaving him with the choking feeling again.

He tried to push Mikey up, but Mike didn't even seem to feel his efforts. He was burying his face against Leo's neck, sleepily mumbling something. Leonardo felt useless and kind of pathetic. Mikey obviously needed more warmth than just Leo's warmth, yet Leo could do nothing, could only struggle under his brother. He had no idea what would happen if they continued staying here – he felt a chill and realized that the door had been left open. The wind was easily getting in, but Leo hadn't had time to notice since he had been so worried. Or was he really that feverish that he hadn't noticed? It was quite noticeable, and now that he was paying attention, he realized how cold the room really was. They couldn't stay.

But he had to admit… Mikey's cool skin and the chilliness of the room felt really nice against his own hot skin. It made him feel kind of lightheaded, in a good way. In a way where it was easy to just observe the things happening around him without feeling the need to interfere. It was also kind of nice of Mikey to be so close, they rarely were these days. Mikey would sometimes come to his or one of their brothers rooms, seeking comfort after a nightmare. But that was pretty much all the closeness he had had with his brothers in a long time, so yeah, it was nice. He thought about Don and Raph, but couldn't remember where they had gone. The last thing he remembered was Don's hand under his head, his worried look- but why had he been worried? It was nice here with Mikey, there shouldn't be anything to worry about. He was feeling very drowsy all of a sudden.

Don, Raph- it was important to know where they were, if they were safe. That's what he was supposed to worry about. Leo touched the edge of Mikey's shell, trying to tell him to move, but ending up confused as to why his voice wouldn't come out. The roof of the shop swam in his eyes, and without another thought his hand fell back to the floor.

* * *

The emergency hatch was difficult to get open, but a few good punches managed to do the trick. Raph climbed up, taking the bags Don gave to him and placing them on top of the elevator. After that he helped Don up and they strapped the bags on their shells. They had to leave some of them in the elevator, or climbing would be impossible.

They used their shuko spikes to climb up the wall of the elevator shaft, but the process was slow. The cables of the elevator constantly got on their way, and the shaft wasn't very big, making it narrow for them and their bags. And it was dark, they had no idea how much further they'd have to climb. The howling of the wind told them they were getting closer, though.

Raph was climbing first since he would be the one prying the elevator doors open once they got there. He was carefully making his next move, placing the spikes on the wall when he heard Don curse from below him. Rare, but he wasn't surprised, considering his current mood.

"You okay?" Raph asked, a bit worried to ask. What more did they need, hadn't everything already gone wrong?

Don didn't answer him, so Raph tried to glance down, even though he knew he couldn't see anything. "Don?"

"I'm… fine", Don said hesitantly, and Raph could hear him shuffle around, the bags grinding against the cables. He knew Don wasn't moving since he couldn't hear the sound of the spikes, so he waited for Don to elaborate.

Don sighed, and his sigh sounded defeated. He was getting tired of constantly making things more difficult for them. When would it be enough?

"I'm… stuck. On the cables. One of the bags…"

Yep, Raph had been right to be worried to ask. He hated how Don was already blaming himself, once again, but he'd have time to scold him later.

"Alright… um… you need help?"

"No, I'm working on it", Don said. They both knew that Raph couldn't get to him anyways; there wasn't enough room for that.

Don weighted his options; he'd need to let go of the wall and turn in order to reach his back, but leaning away from the wall could loosen the hold of the shuko spikes on the wall, and the weight of the bags could pull him down. He could hold on to the cable, though, so he-

But before he could move they heard something break above them, making a loud noise. They hold their breath, and were able to feel something dropping past them, clattering on the top of the elevator under them.

"Don, what the hell was that?" Raph asked, pressing himself closer to the wall in fear that more stuff would fall and hit them.

Donatello had a very, very bad feeling.

"There shouldn't be anything but the cables and the parts holding them", Don explained slowly, trying to stay as still as he could in order to not move the cable he was stuck in. "I think… I think the cold has made the cables weak."

It was obvious what that meant, but Raph had to think about it for a while. When he realized he felt his heart sink, and he was already getting ready to move back down. Don sensed his movements and snapped his head up.

"Don't!" he said, a bit panicked, and Raphael stopped.

"What? Like hell I'm just gonna wait for the elevator to drop and drag you down with it", Raph growled, but stayed still, only because of the panic he had heard in Don's voice.

"Just don't move, Raph, try to not touch the cable", Don hissed. Raph understood, but the anxiety made him want to move, to do something. It frustrated him beyond words that any movement would just make things worse.

One of the cables gave up, whipping the walls as it fell. It was impossible to see it in the dark, so Raph let out a surprised yelp as it hit him in the arm, tearing open the fabric of his clothing as well as his skin.

"Raph!" Don yelled when he heard his yelp.

"I'm fine, the damn cable just startled me", he lied, trying to inspect the wound, but it was impossible in the dark. It stung and he knew he was bleeding. But as long as he could climb, it didn't matter.

Don knew that if he couldn't get himself free soon the falling elevator would drag him all the way down with him, and even though his shell had saved him from many falls, he wasn't sure if it could do that this time. The fall was high and the drag of the elevator would make his fall even harder.

But how could he get free if any movement was risking the rest of the cables coming down? Don held his eyes closed for a moment, taking a deep breath. He'd have to be fast.

As carefully as he could he risked letting go with his other hand, reaching behind himself and feeling the surface of the bag in order to find how he had gotten stuck. At the tug the cable made another sound, more parts falling down. Finally the cable itself snapped, and with it the other cables gave up as well. Don couldn't feel the wall under his hands anymore as the cable yanked him down.

The falling cables scraped the walls as they fell past Raphael, and the crash of the elevator hitting the bottom drowned his yell.

* * *

 **A/N:** So much desperate, feverish Leo, oops. It was funny to write Leo and Mikey, both so confused, trying to interact in a serious situation.


	3. Chapter 3

Mikey hadn't even realized that he had fallen asleep until he opened his eyes. He was immediately greeted by a headache, _oh_ , how he _hated_ those- and the cold. The room was cold, he was cold – everything was cold. Expect for the thing he was laying on.

Leo. He was on top of Leo, and they were both on the floor. Things were really confusing. Mikey tried to move, managing to lift his weight off of Leo, but he stumbled. His upper body was warm, probably thanks to Leo, but his legs felt cold and numb.

Thinking about what had happened only made his head hurt, so he turned to his brother, who was clearly unconscious. Fever, he remembered, but remembering cost him a sharp pain in the back of his head. He ignored it, reaching for Leo to shake him. Leonardo woke up slowly, looking like he regretted that decision immediately.

Now that he wasn't pressed up against Leo the coldness of the room was getting to him, and he rested his hands on Leo's warm skin. "Leo, i-it's really cold", Mikey stuttered the obvious. Leo was so pleasantly warm; Mikey felt almost jealous and wanted to just snuggle back against him and forget everything else. But the floor probably wasn't the best place, so they could use the change of environment. Mikey was realizing that they were down in April's shop – how, no idea.

Leonardo mouthed Mikey's name, not remembering he couldn't speak until he had opened his mouth. His world was reduced to the feeling of burning and aching and he grabbed Mikey's cold arm, trying to reach some kind of comfort. There were no clear thoughts, only a heavy fog clouding his mind, and Mikey's cold skin beneath his fingers didn't ease his feverish mind.

Mikey tried standing up, but his legs failed him. He flexed them for a while to get the blood moving again, cringing when the feeling returned to them. He took a few careful steps before turning back to Leo and kneeling down to help him up. His brother didn't look pleased about that, a small whimper leaving him.

"Sorry, Leo", Mikey croaked, startled at how raspy his voice had become.

After getting Leo to use his own legs he started dragging him towards the chairs. It took them a long time, effectively stripping both of them of their remaining strength.

Both of them collapsed on their knees as soon as they got up to the second floor. Mikey realized he was shaking and felt nauseous all of a sudden, not wanting to ever get up.

He also realized that the apartment was dark, the only light being the glow of the streetlamps outside. Mikey groaned, dragging Leo closer to the center of the room. Leo had gone limp again, and with aching muscles Mikey dragged the blankets from the sofa, draping them over Leo. His head hurt too much, he didn't have the energy to lift Leo on the sofa. The apartment was warm, even the floor felt like a warm bed compared to the shop, so this would do.

He lay down next to Leo, huddling as close as possible. With both of them under the blankets and finally surrounded by warmth Mikey felt drowsy again, knowing somewhere in his mind that he shouldn't fall asleep while he still felt numb and his head hurt, but he couldn't resist. He felt warm and comfortable, if he ignored the pain in his head, but at the same time he knew that Leo still needed something for his fever, and he probably needed something for the headache. He just didn't know what and he was so _tired_.

Leo's breath was rattling, and Mikey whimpered as he listened to it. He wanted to help but he knew he was useless; he gripped Leonardo harder, snuggling close and fighting the feelings of frustration and helplessness.

* * *

" _Don!_ " Raph yelled again, feeling his heart hammering against his chest. He couldn't believe it, no, _no_ -

"Still here, Raph."

Raph pressed his forehead against the wall, taking deep, calming breaths. One of these days he would have a heart attack.

"You stop scaring me like that", Raph groaned, heart still racing like crazy. He realized that Don's voice was further away than before. "Did you fall? You alright?"

"I'm fine", Don said, and Raph could hear him climbing. He had dropped quite a long way, so he had a lot of climbing to do. "I managed to get free from the cable until I hit the bottom. It was still a bit too close, though…"

"Yeah. Tell me about it", Raph mumbled, still not sure if he was over the panic he had felt. He was still tense, ready for something else to go wrong since it seemed like there were no breaks for them today.

"Man", Don groaned. His voice was steadily coming closer. "The mess I'm going to have to fix once we come back…"

Raph laughed a bit. It felt good to laugh. It felt good to think about coming back, felt good to think about this whole thing being over. Not like he was going to let anyone close to this elevator for a while, though. "That's what you get when you do such a shitty job attaching elevator cables."

As soon as the words left his mouth he winced. Even in the dark he could feel how Don flinched, and Raph wanted to punch himself. "No, Don, I didn't mean-"

"I know", Don said quietly. "Let's just get out of here."

The elevator doors were pretty well closed. Raph picked his sai from his belt, using it to pry the doors open. The movement made the wound in his arm ache, and Raph couldn't stop the yelp escaping from his lips. The pain had been more like background noise, but now that he used his weapon the pain flared up.

"Raph! What's wrong?" Don asked worriedly from below him. Thick liquid dripped on his plastron and hands, and he frowned, bringing his hand closer to his face to smell it. Startled, he drew his hand away.

"Raph, are you bleeding?"

Raph only grunted in response, ignoring the pain in order to get the doors open. He had had enough of this and just wanted out.

The garage was dark and eerie, but Raph was glad to have solid ground under his legs. He put his sai away, turning to help Donnie up from the shaft. Donatello grabbed his hand, not letting go even when they were safely away from the elevator.

"You're hurt", Don said, already searching for his flashlight. Raphael could be so stubborn, not even telling him he had been hurt.

"It's nothing", Raph said, yanking his arm away. Raph just wanted to get to Mikey and Leo, the arm could wait that long.

"It's not nothing if you're bleeding", Don said, and the way his tone was changing Raph knew he couldn't get out of doctor Don's grabby hands. He gave up and groaned, waiting until Don had dug out his flashlight from one of the bags.

"Left arm", Raph mumbled.

Don carefully grabbed his arm, touching the edge of the wound. Don let him go, but glared at him in the darkness. Without saying anything he walked to the Battle Shell resting in the garage, finding the first-aid kit they kept there. He came back with some gauze, still glaring at Raph. He made Raphael hold the flashlight with his good arm as he treated his wound.

"You could've told me", Don said.

"We were kind of busy down there", Raph pointed out.

They were silent as Don worked, the atmosphere heavy. Don said nothing, and Raph didn't know what to say. They were tired, annoyed and worried, so maybe it was for the best to say nothing.

After fixing up Raph's arm they walked through the garage, listening to the howling wind and getting mentally prepared for the cold. When they got to the exit Don turned the flashlight off, kneeling to grab the bottom of the door, glancing up at Raph when he didn't do the same, even though he couldn't really see him now that the flashlight was turned off.

"Listen, Don…" Raph said, and Don could feel Raphael grab his arm, implying for him to get back up. Don did, almost putting the flashlight back on to see Raphael's face better since his tone sounded so serious.

"About what I said. That you did a shitty job", Raph began, sounding self-conscious. Don could almost imagine the face he was making as he spoke, how Raph couldn't look Don in the eyes even in the darkness. He could only see the edges of Raphael's face. "You know I didn't mean it like that. Had you not taken us here we'd probably still be in the sewers with no way out."

Don chuckled a bit. It was true he had been blaming himself, especially since Raph had most likely gotten his wound by being hit by the falling wires… which had been his fault. Now that he thought about it more he knew the cables had given up most likely because of the extreme weather change, like he had briefly suspected, but he felt like he should've known. He was always the one who had to _know_.

"I know you didn't mean it", Don said gently, a bit amused that Raphael was worried about what he had said and took the time to make sure Don wasn't blaming himself. He really did know that his brother didn't blame him. Raph always said all kinds of stuff without thinking – they knew he didn't mean them, but sometimes they still stung. "It's just hard to not feel like I'm the one to blame. But we should probably go, we-"

Raphael cut him off by pulling him into a tight hug. Don was totally caught off guard, and for a moment he didn't know what to do. Raph? Hugging him? Had the cable hit him in the head too?

"I thought you fell", Raph said quietly, filling Don with understanding. He placed his hands on Raphael's shell, hugging him back.

"I'm here, Raph", he said against Raphael's shoulder.

They stood still for a while, taking comfort in each other. They came close to losing each other almost every day, but sometimes it just- when Raph was in the dark, thinking he had lost Don- No matter how often it happened, it wasn't something you could just get used to. They had gotten out, all that was left was to walk back. But that wasn't enough comfort – he _needed_ to hold Don, even if just for a moment.

The next, harsh blow of the wind outside made them part and they turned their attention back to the door.

"Alright, here we go", Raph said, wanting the comfort to linger but the sappiness to be forgotten. He grunted as they opened the door of the garage, usually meant for the Battle Shell to exit. The door was heavy with snow and ice, and for a moment they feared it wouldn't open. Eventually it did, and they were immediately greeted by the wind. The greeting felt like a wet, painful smack across the cheek, and they hurried to start the journey. They were a bit shocked by the force of the weather, even though they had expected it to be bad. Just not _this_ bad.

It was already dark, but some of the streetlights seemed to be working. They trusted that their clothing and the wind hid them well enough. They rarely got to walk the streets, and perhaps this would've been nice without all the snow and cold.

"The way to April's never felt this long", Raph yelled after they had walked – or more like waded; the snow was up to their knees – for a while. He had to yell in order to be heard over the shrieking of the wind.

The cold was getting to them, and Don wasn't sure which was slowing them down more, the wading or the cold. He shivered, about to answer Raph, but someone grabbed his arm and turned him around.

"You, give me your wallet or-", the guy who had grabbed him went silent when he saw Don's face.

"Turtle!" he yelled in surprise, and the group of thugs behind him all grabbed their weapons. Some of them had purple tattoos on their faces, revealing them to be Purple Dragons. It would've been hard to tell otherwise, since they were all wearing a lot of heavy clothing. Which didn't make them look very intimidating.

"What, you losers can't take a break even when the sky's falling down?" Raph grumbled, tossing his bags aside and grabbing his sais.

"Raph, we don't have the time!" Don protested as he kicked away the guy grabbing him, but having to draw his own weapon when the rest of the gang attacked.

"What do you want me to do, then?" Raph asked, already thrilled by the fact that there was butt to kick. They had been stuck inside the lair for a long time because of the harsh winter; he had really missed being in a real battle. Not like the Purple Dragons ever meant a _real_ battle, but hey, it was something.

He was tired and cold, but the adrenaline suddenly surging through him made him forget that. The Purple Dragons should've just stayed inside in the warm.

Three of the Dragons went down easily when Don swung his bō-staff. However, the movement made him almost fall over; the snow made it difficult to move properly, and he was still carrying his own bags. The cold was also affecting him and Raphael more than the humans, and Don got a taste of that when a chain wrapped itself across his arm, yanking him forward and sending him down into the snow.

Raphael growled, sending one of the thugs down with a punch to the face. He hated clothes – they just slowed him down. Another thug went down, then a third – real cowards, trying to steal from people with such a huge group. Well, the police probably had a lot of other stuff to worry about in such weather, so of course this pathetic group took advantage of that. Barely anybody was out in this weather, so the gang had probably been on their way to break into somewhere.

He sent another punch, but when he glanced at Don he saw him down on the ground, the Dragons circling around him. Raph hurried to get closer, but was stopped by two of the thugs.

"Outta my way", he growled a warning, but someone grabbed him from behind, easily lifting him up from the ground.

He struggled, trying to move his head to see who had been able to lift him up. The guy was almost as tall as Hun and paid no attention to Raphael's attempts to kick him. "Let me go, dammit!"

Don had managed to get back onto his feet by tackling the closest thugs, but had taken a few punches in the process. His lip was bleeding and the chain was still around his arm, but he had managed to knock the chain's wielder unconscious with a heavy blow with his staff. Getting up and moving around had been hard since he still carried the extra weight. Luckily he was used to carrying things while he fought.

Almost half of the Purple Dragons were already out of the game. They knew the turtles weren't that easy to take down, why weren't they running away already? Was it really worth fighting in this weather?

He got his answer when he heard Raph yell out in frustration and turned around to look. At first he thought the one holding Raph was Hun – but no, he wasn't as huge as he was. Huge enough to be holding Raph above ground and by the looks of it, crush him against his chest.

The cocky gang members were easy to defeat now that Don was back on his feet – a few swipes of his bō and they stumbled into the snow. It didn't take long, but by the time he was finished he could hear Raph yelling in pain.

When he dashed to help his brother he saw that the situation had changed; the big guy was holding Raph up by his wounded arm, digging his fingers into the wound Raphael had gotten earlier in the elevator shaft.

"Poor thing was already hurt", the guy grinned. "Let's hurt him more."

"How about not", Don hissed, and the guy turned to look at him in surprise. Don's bō came towards his head fast, but the guy managed to grab it with only one hand. It was Don's turn to be surprised, and it cost him; the guy tightened his grip on the bō, yanking it away from Don's cold fingers and throwing it away in the snow.

"Another turtle", the guy said, sounding amused. Guess he was new around here.

Raphael took advantage of the guy's attention being on Don, kicking the guy against his ribs as hard as he could. He was freed, but the guy only groaned, not as hurt from the kick as Raph would've liked.

He stumbled away from him, not wanting to get caught in those arms again. His hand had been hurting before, and now the pain seemed to be twice as bad. He gritted his teeth, searching for his sai he had dropped. The snow made finding it difficult, but finally he felt the handle of the weapon. His fingers were numb from the cold, but he held onto his weapon with his good arm.

It had already been dark, but suddenly the streetlights flickered, going out completely. They were in almost complete darkness now, and Raph grinned, ready to attack. He never got the chance when a three-fingered hand grabbed his good arm, dragging him away from the fight.

"Hey!" he yelled, but followed Don anyways. He didn't know if Don had gotten hurt, and alright, the pain in his arm wasn't going anywhere. They were blindly running in the snow, but they were used to moving in the dark. The streets were familiar, not as familiar as the rooftops, but they could manage. Besides, the white snow was easier to see than black asphalt would've been.

They didn't know if anyone came after them; the wind's howling was deafening now. They turned into an alleyway, holding their breath to listen. Nobody was coming.

"Let's go", Raph grunted. His teeth were starting to clatter together.

"You're bleeding again. We can't risk them following us", Don said, glad he had taken the gauze with him. He re-bandaged Raphael's arm, feeling how Raph squirmed a bit under his touch. He felt sympathy, having someone dig into your wound like that…

Raph groaned suddenly. "The bags- I left them back there."

"Doesn't matter", Don said. "We're close, let's just go. I'm freezing."

"No, you go on ahead, I'll go get them", Raph argued.

"No, we're _not_ getting split up now", Don said firmly. "You know they're searching for us."

Raphael turned, swatting Don's hand away as he tried to grab him. "I didn't do the whole trip to the lair and back for _nothing_."

Raph was running, knowing they hadn't gotten far from the place where they fought and hoping the Purple Dragons had decided it would be better to go home. He didn't know if Don was following him or not, he just wanted to grab the bags and get out of the cold. He knew he couldn't fight anymore, he could barely even feel his fingers.

Raph moved quietly, even though he knew that the wind pretty much hid him. He could hear the thugs talking, getting their unconscious friends up from the snow, but nobody had touched the bags Raph had tossed aside. He had to search for them for a while, feeling his way around in the snow, but finally he got his hands on them. He even found the bō Don had dropped, taking it with him.

Donatello couldn't believe that Raph had just decided to turn around when they were so close. He shivered, rubbing his cold arms. He wasn't jacked up on adrenaline as much as Raph was, so when he stood still, the cold bit hard.

"Stupid Raph", he muttered, starting to jog after him. "I swear, I- _mmfhp_!"

Someone clamped a hand over his mouth, and Don couldn't believe this was the _second_ time in such a short time that someone managed to sneak up behind him. He raised his fist to knock the one behind him, but his hand was grabbed and brought behind his back, twisting it painfully. He screamed against the hand over his mouth, trying to kick, but when that wasn't useful either he realized that it was the big guy from earlier who was holding him.

"I knew you'd be around", the guy laughed against Don's ear, making Don turn his head away. "Where's the other one?"

The hand fell from his mouth, but Don said nothing, only struggling against the grip.

"Fine, we'll just wait."

Raph was running back, not because he had the strength to, but because he thought he'd freeze otherwise. Don hadn't come after him, making him frown. Well, they had no idea how Mike and Leo were doing, so Raph kind of understood why he had decided to go on ahead. Also, had he mentioned it was cold as hell? Well, hell wasn't the right word, exactly. But he totally understood Don's choice. Maybe he was just too used to someone running after him when he decided to storm off.

Raph took a shortcut they had missed earlier when they had been running blindly. It took him to April's faster.

There weren't footprints in front of April's shop. Raph glanced behind him to see how quick his own steps were being buried under the constantly falling snow. Not fast enough for Don's steps to have disappeared so quickly. Was Don still out there, searching for him, not knowing he had used the shortcut? Raph dragged a hand over his face; Don could still be there, thinking the thugs had seen him. Don could accidently get involved with the gang again if he thought Raph had started a fight again. He looked back at the street, looking at the darkness. The street had never looked so long and dark.

"Damn it. _Damn it_ ", Raph cursed, wading towards the door of the shop. He'd just check on Mikey and Leo and leave the bags, then go after Don-

The door was open. Still no fresh footsteps, so it couldn't have been Don. But the door was open, and no way his brothers would've just _left_ it open. It meant they had left in hurry, or someone had come in by force. And if they had left, they were still out in the cold, and if they hadn't left, it meant they hadn't been _able_ to close the door.

Both options made Raphael's breathing seize- thinking about feverish Leo, unable to defend himself or Mikey against intruders alone-

He kicked the door open fully, feeling the wall for the light switch, finding it, but no lights came on. He cursed again, picking up his flashlight and looking around. The wind had blown snow in, and some of it had melted into puddles of water. He followed the water inside, and saw Mikey's clothes in a wet pile. They were a bit torn- they had been removed in a hurry. Shit, if Mikey was out without his winter clothing…

The apartment was silent; no way there was anyone here, anymore. Unless the intruders had known there was four of them, and now they were waiting in the second floor to attack the rest. If someone was there he knew they had heard him kick the door, so he didn't have the element of surprise anymore.

" _Mikey!_ " he bellowed while stomping up the stairs. " _Leo!_ "

* * *

"What's taking him so long?" the man asked, shivering. He had taken shelter in a narrower alleyway, managing to escape the wind this way. Don's hands and legs had been tied, and he was lying in the snow next to the big guy. The man was leaning against the alley's wall, cursing when the wind wasn't letting him lit his cigarette. He kept his other leg on top of Don, occasionally giving his shell a kick, just out of boredom. Don was on his side, and every time the man kicked him he fell on his plastron. He struggled to get back onto his side only because otherwise he'd have to lay his face in the snow. No thanks, he was already cold enough.

In fact he was so cold he couldn't feel his fingers or much of anything, anymore. That's why he had given up on trying to get away from the ropes, his fingers were simply too numb to be used for anything.

Lying down in the cold was also making him sleepy. He was at that point where he wasn't even shivering anymore, just repeating _don't sleep, don't sleep_ in his mind over and over again. He was tired, but he knew the cold was the reason for his heavy eyelids. If he'd fall asleep he wouldn't be able to hold his head up from the snow anymore, and that would mean he'd just fall in hypothermia. Well, at this rate he would be hypothermic anyways, if he wasn't already, but staying awake would give him more time. Time for what? Time for Raph to come and find him?

He was wondering about the same thing as the man was; what was taking Raph so long? Had he picked up a fight again? If he had and had lost, the guy holding him would've been informed. If he had and had won, he'd be here soon.

Don was kicked on his plastron again, and he let out a small grunt. He started squirming, already sick of this, trying to get back into his earlier position to get his face away from the snow. But the leg on his shell wasn't lifted up, so he couldn't get back up.

"Um", Don mumbled. He didn't even know where the guy was going with this; he was obviously using him to bait Raphael, but then what? He'd kill them? Why hadn't he killed Don already? Was he going to take them somewhere, to the Foot?

"I hate to complain, but-", Don started, holding his head up in order to speak, but the guy lifted his leg from his shell and pressed it against the back of his head instead, pushing his face into the snow. Don put his mouth into a thin line and pressed his eyes shut to prevent the snow from getting there, cringing when the cold of the snow stung his face.

"I'm starting to think he ain't coming back for you", the guy said, nudging the turtle's face deeper into the snow. "Guess the cold chased him back home. Maybe he'll try again in the spring."

The guy lifted his leg, walking away from the wall. Don lifted his head, gasping for air and glaring up at the Purple Dragon.

"Not like they'll find you before spring, anyways", he added, chuckling a bit as he kicked snow on Don's face. Don turned his head away, not bothering to say anything. Raph would come.

Before spring, he hoped.


	4. Chapter 4

Someone was coming up the stairs – _crawling_ up the stairs, dragged its long, sharp claws against the metal railing, making his ears ring with the horrible sound. He flinched away but his body resisted; he was _boiling_ , his skin- he lifted his hand only to see his skin melting, leaving only bare muscle visible. He tried to scream but nothing came out– only pain, pain in his lungs, the monster breathed down on him now, stealing his air–

"– _Leo!_ "

No monster, only Raphael, calling his name, holding him down as he struggled. The room was dim, faint light was coming from somewhere, but that didn't really matter. The feeling of danger faded, dulled by Raph's presence. The fear disappeared, but he still couldn't breathe. Raph looked so afraid, looking down at him with wide eyes– Mikey was next to him, clinging to Raphael's arm, face buried against his shoulder. It was enough to make Leo forget everything else, including his own breathing, and he tried focusing on Raph's face, needing to know what was wrong, why was Raph afraid– But the dizziness, everything swam, no air…

"– _I'm sorry_ , Raph– I didn't know what to _do_ , _I_ –"

Raph didn't have the time to do anything else but to quickly glance at Mikey when he apologized, but Leo wasn't breathing properly, that was more important – no, Leo wasn't breathing properly, he wasn't breathing at all!

Leo could hear Raph's long litany of curses, could feel himself being lifted, felt a hand behind his head, just like Don had held him earlier– he moved his head, glancing around– Don wasn't here–

Raph bent him forward and Leo coughed. It was an improvement– still no air, but now his throat wasn't locked up, and as soon as the coughing stopped he could properly inhale. He didn't realize it was supposed to feel good because it _didn't_ , his lungs and throat burned – everything burned, he closed his eyes, breathing too fast, but there wasn't enough air–

He leaned backwards and Raph let him, still holding him firmly. Leo searched for Mikey with his eyes, finding him, hating how afraid he looked. But he seemed alright otherwise, so his eyes moved to Raph.

He saw worry – and fear – in Raphael's eyes, but he hid it as soon as their eyes met. Raph looked exhausted, but Leo didn't get to look at him for long before Raph pulled his head against his chest. Raph was still wearing his clothing, but Leo didn't mind the wet fabric. Raph felt cold despite wearing the coat, he had obviously just been outside. Leo still felt hot, hotter than ever, so anything cold against his face was more than welcome.

"God, Leo", Raph whispered, hugging him tight. Leo stayed limp in his arms, not in control of his limbs. He just whimpered against Raphael, still breathing hard, making him hug him tighter.

Raphael had had enough of the scares he had gotten today– first Don, then coming back here just to find Mikey and Leo limp on the floor. His heart had fallen on the bottom of his stomach and it was probably still there. Mike had woken up when he had shaken him, had hugged him and started mumbling something incoherent about the cold and medicine and Leo– Leo had started convulsing, trying to scream but no voice had come out. And he hadn't been breathing–

"Just… god."

He could feel Leo go limp in his arms, probably passed out from the exhaustion. But he was breathing now, and Raph just held him, relieved to feel his chest rising and falling. Raph knew better than to sigh from relief – no way was this just a normal fever. They needed antibiotics or something- no, they needed Don.

Raph turned to Mikey, keeping his arm around Leo. Normally Mikey would've teased him to no end about cradling Leo in his arms, now that the danger had passed, but Mikey seemed to be even more shaken up about all this.

"You ok, Mike?" Raph asked, sliding his hands under Leo to lift him onto the sofa. That was a better place for a sick person. Goddamn them, lying motionless on the floor… They sure had a lot to explain.

"Y-yeah", Mikey answered, certainly not sounding okay. Raph didn't blame him, offering Mikey his hand to help him up from the floor. Mikey grabbed his hand, and when he was on his feet as well, Raph placed his hand on his shoulder. As he looked at his brother, he noticed the bump on his head. What on earth had happened here?

"You don't look okay", Raph said. Shit. He needed explanations, needed to make sure that Mikey really was okay – but he needed to get Don. "Just sit down and I'll be right back-"

" _Back?_ "

"Don's still out there." Raph tried to push Mikey down into one of the nearby chairs, but Mikey didn't let him, only staring at him with wide, scared eyes. "I don't know what happened and I have to– "

"You're _not_ leaving _again_ ", Mikey said immediately. "Do you know how– "

" _Don_ is _out_ there, Mikey! And it's _my_ fault we got separated–"

"Take us with you, or something, just don't leave again– "

Raphael snorted dryly. Take them with him? "Mikey, have you seen Leo– "

" _Me?_ I saw him, alright– I saw him dragging me around while having a freaking _fever that leaves him unable to breathe,_ and all I did was collapse on him and pass out, and when I woke up I couldn't even get him out of the floor, I didn't even get him any medicine, I– I had no idea if you and Don were alright, you didn't answer the phone, _why didn't you answer–_ "

Mikey pressed his hands against his head and whimpered. The outburst had made his head hurt again. Raph was a bit taken aback about the way Mikey had spat out his words, carefully placing his hand back on Mikey's shoulder. Mikey was never like this.

"Mikey, I'm sorry", Raph said carefully after collecting himself, pulling the youngest closer. "I'm sorry we couldn't answer." Mikey wrapped his arms around Raph, hugging him. Seeing Leo trash like that, whimpering in pain– it was something Mikey hadn't seen before, and he could still feel the fear lingering. He didn't want to imagine what would've happened had Raph not been here.

"…I'm sorry", Mikey said after a moment of silence, hesitantly letting go of Raph. "You have to get Don."

"It's gonna be fine now, Don will know what to do", Raph tried comforting Mikey, patting him on his shell before turning away, already thinking about how much time had passed since he had seen Don. Where was he? If he was still out there, left alone in the cold with the Purple Dragons still there– guilt hit him, but on the other hand, if he hadn't come here, who knows what would've happened to Leo with Mikey unconscious. The thought sent shivers down his spine, better to not think about it. Finding Don was what he should be thinking about.

Raph glanced out of the window and cringed; the wind howled, making even the glass of the window clatter. The last thing he wanted to do was to go back out. But there was no other choice – Raph bent down to pick up the flashlight he had dropped earlier, and then it hit him.

He hurried to the bags they had taken with them earlier, going through one of them to find his cell, trying to remember where he had left it.

"Raph?" Mikey asked carefully, trying to see what he was doing.

"Trying to find– shit, it's not here– Mikey, where's your cell?"

"Oh, it's here, and so is yours", Mikey said, glancing accusingly at Raph. There was no time to look guilty about forgetting his cell, Raph just snatched it from Mikey and flipped it on, hoping that Don had charged his cell full enough that it was still on.

Four tiny dots appeared on the screen. Three of them were together, and the fourth was close, just a few streets from here. Now Raph allowed himself to feel relief – until he realized that the dot wasn't moving.

No, _please_ , if the dot was still because Don had accidently dropped his cell–

Only one way to find out.

"Just rest, Mikey. If Leo's condition changes, you can call me now", Raph held his cell up to show Mike he really had it this time. He didn't mention that Don's signal wasn't moving. "I won't take long."

Mikey flinched, moving his head away. Raph felt confused; they both knew he had to go. "Look, Mikey, you know that– "

"It's not that", Mikey said quietly. "It's what Don said when you left the last time."

Raph gripped his cell tighter, staring at the unmoving dot.

"It won't take long", he repeated more firmly. That's what he hoped.

* * *

On the way he dialed Don's number, praying he'd answer. Could be that Don was still waiting for him there, confused why Raph wasn't still coming back, or just taking shelter from the cold– but Raph knew Don wouldn't have stayed still for this long. But he had to come up with comforting thoughts or he'd go mad from the worry.

Donatello's cell rang, and the ringtone was a pathetic beeping drowning into the wind. Don heard it anyways, but didn't react in any way. The Purple Dragon had gotten tired of waiting, saying he couldn't bother with finishing him off. Said he'd leave the dirty work for the cold, and Don was beginning to believe him now. Nobody would find him before spring.

His eyes were only half-open, and here in the alleyway the snow wasn't being blown against his face. No, it fell slowly on him in the form of beautiful snowflakes, at least making his slow end worth watching. Not like there was anyone to watch, but Don could tell his brothers it had been beautiful. What was he thinking about? He wouldn't speak with his brothers ever again. If he died here he wouldn't be doing much of anything.

His foggy mind didn't realize that, of course. The only thing going through his mind was, _don't sleep_ , even now. Even now he was still repeating it, playing it inside his mind like a broken record. _Raph's coming_ , went through his mind occasionally, and the next time it did, he smiled bitterly. Oh, Raph wasn't coming. Nobody was. It was a bitter thought to know that something like the _cold_ could finish them so easily.

He was too frozen to feel his body, even his face was numb. He'd rest his eyes for a moment.

But as soon as he did he could hear shouting, a demanding tone- he couldn't be bothered to open his eyes. Sleep was so close, hadn't he fought it for long enough already? Someone grabbed him and Don groaned- if the Purple Dragon had come back, just to show his face in the snow again-

"Don, come on, open your eyes. C'mon", Raph was talking to him, and Don felt a bit amazed. Slowly he opened his eyes, blinking up at his brother. Yeah, it really was Raphael.

"You're here", he croaked, feeling Raph wiping the melted snow from his cheeks.

"Of course I am", Raph huffed. Had Don thought otherwise? Raph cursed himself for not coming back sooner. No, he cursed himself for leaving in the first place. Why didn't he ever listen?

Don tried to struggle against his restraints, but his hands barely even moved. They were too numb. Raphael noticed the slight movement, moving to cut the ropes. It took time since they were so frozen, and as he cut he had time to curse and mutter how he'd kill every single Purple Dragon – and while he worked Don let his eyes close again. Raph was here, and Don felt bad for thinking that he wouldn't come – Raph always did. Leo wasn't the only big brother looking after him.

Raphael's presence made him feel false safety, his body began to relax since he wasn't alone anymore. His thoughts started to drift as sleep claimed him, he-

"Don! Don't sleep, don't- _Don!_ "

Hands on his cheeks, shaking him, annoying-

"'m busy", Don muttered, trying to turn his head away. Raph let out a choked laugh, shaking him even harder.

"Busy? Yeah, what are you doing?"

"'s none of your business", Don continued, his voice slurring from the cold. The shaking wasn't stopping so he had to open his eyes, and he glared at the one who was stopping him from sleeping. Right, it was Raph.

"I told you", Raph said as he pulled Don up from the snow into a sitting position. "You're worse than Mikey without his comics when something's keeping you from sleeping."

Don couldn't remember what Raph was referring to, but must've been something funny since Raph was grinning. It didn't last for long, though; Don was groaning. It hurt to move.

"You're freezing", Raph said quietly, massaging his arms. "Try moving your fingers. Gotta get the blood flowing again…"

Don tried, but it hurt, so he stopped. "I can't", he said, closing his eyes again.

"I know it's not pleasant, but you have to", Raph continued, helping Don to sit against the wall and moving to rub his legs. He frowned. "Don, what happened? You were tied- if this is supposed to be a trap, it's kind of slow."

Don shrugged, at least tried to. His cold muscles protested even such a small movement. He couldn't remember- no, wait, he could. "He told me the cold would finish the job."

Raph growled. The narrow alley was better compared to the street where the wind was blowing full force. It was probably the only reason Don wasn't deep in hypothermia. Raph gritted his teeth. Again, he had come close to losing Don again, and this time it was completely his fault. The guilt crept in and felt worse than the cold.

"I know that look", Don said weakly. Raph hadn't realized Don was looking at him, so he quickly hardened his face, only scoffing.

"Yeah, it's the look I have when you're being difficult", Raph muttered, moving from Don's legs to sit against the wall with Don. It'd take a while before they could get up, Don had to get the feeling back to his legs before that. He took Don's hands into his, helping him open and close his fingers since he wasn't doing it on his own.

"No", Don said, starting to finally get the feeling back to his fingers. When he could move his arm again he raised his hand, lifting it up behind Raphael's head and pressed Raphael closer. Raph stiffened, definitely not feeling like talking some heart-to-heart – again – but when his head was pressed against Don's chest Raph suddenly felt vulnerable. His self-loathing was pushed aside, and he knew it'd come knocking some other time, but it was gone for now, leaving room for something else. Losing Don to the dark elevator shift and finding Mike and Leo limp from the floor, then almost losing Don to the cold-

Yeah, when Don wrapped his arms around him, Raph let him.

But he had promised Mikey they wouldn't take long, so he had to haul Don up before his legs were working properly. That meant most of Don's weight was on him, but they'd manage. They weren't far, anyways.

That's when Raphael's shell cell beeped, telling him he got a new message. For a moment Raph was almost afraid to look. He had hated to leave Mikey again, and if Leo was having a nightmare – or hallucinating, Raph didn't really know if Leo had been asleep or not when he had trashed around – or getting worse they'd have to hurry. He knew Mikey could calm Leo down, he had just been shocked the last time, but if his condition was worse in some other way…

He held Don up with just one hand, cringing when he had to use his wounded arm to dig the cell from his pocket to read the message. Raph frowned at the typos, either Mikey didn't know how to write or it had been written in hurry.

" _you gotta comw baxk_ "

* * *

Mikey was carefully petting Leo's cheek, getting a strong sense of déjà-vu. This was exactly how this whole thing had started, he was alone with Leo again, only this time Leo was even worse.

Mikey was glad that Leo was asleep, but he didn't dare to leave his side. When Raph had found them and woken him up Mikey had been so relieved- but then Leo… he hated to think about it, hated to think that it could happen again.

Leo's breath whistled as it came out of his lungs, and even though Mikey didn't like the sound, he was still glad it let him know Leo was breathing. He leaned against the sofa, checking the screen of his shell with his other hand. It showed him that Raph had reached Don, but they weren't moving yet. Mikey took a deep breath, stopping himself from thinking anything- his mind would just start creating all kinds of what-if's and he was tired of worrying. Raph had promised to come, he had to just wait.

Someone knocked against the door of the shop and Mikey's breathing got caught in his throat. He looked back down at the screen, but the two dots were still a few streets away, so it couldn't be Raph or Don.

"Must be my imagination", Mikey chuckled nervously, grabbing his head. Or the side-effects of him hitting his head – even though he still couldn't remember just what had hit him. One moment he had stood outside, the second Leo was hovering over him-

The door was forced open and it hit the wall with a loud bang. Mikey froze.

A hushed voice came down from the shop and Mikey broke away from his fear, grabbing Leo with all his strength and hauling him up. The rough wake-up made Leo grab Michelangelo's arms in sleep-induced panic, thinking someone was attacking them again, and he tried to push Mikey away.

"Calm down, Leo, it's just me", Mikey whispered hurriedly, and after Leo managed to focus his gaze on Mikey he recognized his brother. Mikey dragged Leo on his feet, but he only collapsed against him. His eyes were closed again, since there was no danger, only Mikey. Expect that there was, Leo just didn't know about it.

"Come on, you gotta work with me here", Mikey spoke in harsh whispers, hearing the footsteps from the shop coming closer to the stairs. He couldn't carry Leo's dead weight, so he settled for dragging him.

In his hurry Mikey chose to hide in the bathroom, locking the door after them. He placed Leo carefully on the floor, scooting back to the door, pressing his head against it to listen. He dug his cell from his belt, turning it on silent and sending Raph a text with shaking fingers. He wanted to call, to hear Raph tell him they were already coming- but he had to be silent. The stairs croaked as someone walked in them. Mikey swallowed; if they'd try the handle of the bathroom they'd immediately know someone was hiding there. But who were 'they?'

Leo moaned, and the small sound sounded loud in the silence, making Mikey almost leap over his brother, clasping a hand over his mouth. Leo seemed startled again, looking up at Mikey with wide eyes, this time not recognizing him. He struggled against Mikey's weight pinning him down, trying to move his head to the side, but Mikey kept his hand firmly over Leo's mouth.

" _Shhh_ ", Mikey hushed, and he would've used his other hand to try calm him down, but he had to hold Leo's wrist so that he couldn't hit him. Leo's other hand was uselessly grabbing the hand over his mouth, but he didn't have the strength to push the hand away. He could feel how Leo whimpered against his hand, fighting some imaginary enemy he thought Mikey was, and Michelangelo felt bad for making Leo think he was a threat. His hand muffled Leo's already quiet voice. He couldn't risk the intruders hearing him.

"Sorry, Leo, _sorry_ ", Mikey lowered his head to whisper, hoping his voice would calm down his brother. Leo's struggling ceased, but Mikey knew it was because he had to be exhausted, not because he had calmed down. And, Mikey realized with a sinking feeling, it was because his hand effectively cut off Leo's ways of getting air, so he quickly pulled his hand away to let Leo breathe again.

"Sorry. Sorry", Mikey whispered again, voice almost breaking when Leo struggled for a breath. Leo already had trouble breathing – he was just causing more damage than helping. And what was he panicking about? Whether the intruders were Purple Dragons or Foot or just some thieves, he could hold his ground against them. The only reason he had hurried to hide was because Leo was in no condition to fight, and Mikey didn't know how many he would be up against. He could defend himself, but he wasn't sure if he could defend the both of them.

His cell buzzed silently on the floor where he had thrown it in his hurry to silence Leo.

" _on our way. you okay? why did you text?_ "

" _someone's in the house_ ", Mikey hurriedly texted back. The cell fell from his hands again; Leo coughed and Mikey had to press his hand over his mouth again, feeling a tight knot in his stomach when Leo didn't even try to fight him back this time.

Mikey realized the apartment had gone silent; had they heard the coughing? If they had, they knew there was someone hiding. Mikey moved his hand away from Leo's mouth, but kept his hand close so that he could silence Leo again if he'd make any noises. His other hand moved to his belt, ready to draw his weapon.

* * *

Raph frowned when he read Mike's text. Just how bad was their luck? Raph knew Mikey was hiding somewhere with Leo, that's why he had texted instead of calling. He also knew that Mikey didn't know who or how many there were in the apartment, otherwise he would've told him.

Also, the apartment was small. It wouldn't take long before Mikey and Leo would be found.

Walking with Don heavily leaning on him was difficult, especially since he was carrying the bags Don had carried earlier. But they weren't far; April's shop could already be seen.

"You stay here", Raph whispered to Don, leaving him outside the shop, but sheltered him from the wind by leaving him in the alley. Don protested, but as soon as Raphael's support left him he couldn't help sliding down into a sitting-position. Raph gave him his bō before moving to the door leading to the shop.

It was closed, just like he had left it, but on the ground there were footsteps that hadn't been there before. Their own footsteps had already been smudged by the falling snow, and the snow was too deep to leave proper tracks anyways, but Raph knew the new marks were left by a human.

And only one human at that. It was hard to tell anything else, but one human shouldn't be a problem. Carefully Raph pushed the door open, stepping inside.

Nothing looked out of place; Mikey's clothes were still lying on the floor of the shop and it was quiet, just like the last time Raph had entered. He hated this feeling of coming into a silent apartment; it never meant anything good.

He listened, but couldn't hear anything. So, the human knew he was there and waited somewhere, ready to strike. Raph picked his sai from his belt as he walked the stairs.

He got into the second-floor without anything happening. It was still dark, now even the streetlamps didn't light the apartment. Raph was standing in the center of the room, hoping that he'd taken the flashlight with him.

It shouldn't be possible to hide this well from him; an ordinary human couldn't do that, so it must've been a skilled enemy. Raph twirled the sai in his better hand, starting to get impatient. He was tired of someone making things difficult for them, and he certainly didn't want to keep Don outside any longer.

"Show yerself!" Raph finally gave in, having to break the silence with his yell. He stormed into the kitchen, but there was nobody there. At least nobody he could see. He walked back to the main room, letting out a growl.

He almost jumped out of his skin when the door of the bathroom flew open and Mikey jumped out, nunchakus in both hands, looking a bit bewildered.

"Where are they? Where are they?" Mikey asked impatiently, glancing around wildly, unable to see anything thanks to the dark. He yelped when Raphael's hand landed on his shoulder, but calmed down when he recognized his brother.

"I don't think there's anyone here", Raph said, knowing even in the darkness that Mikey was making an offended face.

"You think I just imagined it?"

"No, I saw the marks-"

"Guys, I don't think there's anyone here. At least not anymore", they could hear Don's voice from down the shop, and Mikey was immediately storming towards the stairs.

Don was glad Raph had given him his bō; with its aid he had been able to push himself up and walk. It had been clumsy, but he wasn't planning on just waiting.

He had also looked at the tracks in the snow, having seen Raphael's tracks coming in and coming out, he had probably used the same tracks at some point, as well as the human's tracks. They had gone in, and… they had gone out. Don had shaken his head; typical Raph, not realizing to pay enough attention.

Don was in the middle of closing the door, this time locking it. Would've saved his brothers a lot of trouble to just do that in the first place…

And suddenly he was in a crushing embrace, Mikey's hands tightly wrapped around him.

"I told ya to wait, Don", Raph mumbled from the stairs.

"Man, I'm so glad to see the both of you", Mikey said, relief clear in his voice. But, as soon as his good mood had appeared it disappeared. He grabbed Don's hand, starting to drag him towards the stairs. "You gotta help Leo." Mikey's tone had gone serious, meaning that something must really be wrong. Don stumbled after him.

"He's gotten worse?" Donatello asked, worry present in his voice again.

"Oh, yeah he has", said Raph, moving back to the second-floor. Don threw him the flashlight, and Raph showed the way. Raph hadn't yet told Don about Leo's condition, having wanted to make sure that Don was alright first. Mikey helped Don up the stairs and guided him to the bathroom, where Don carefully kneeled next to Leo, despite still shivering himself.

So Raph did what he could, kneeling next to Don and helping him get out of the wet clothes he still had before throwing them into the bathtub next to them, doing the same with his own clothing.

"Mikey, could you get the bags Raph just brought? Take the other flashlight with you, too. I see that you've hit your head, better not hit it again."

Mikey didn't even have time to say anything witty before heading out of the bathroom, and that was worrying enough. Raph went after him.

Leo reacted to Don's voice, his eyes fluttering open, and Don turned to look down at him.

"Hi, Leo", Don said soothingly. He could see the discomfort Leo was in by the way he struggled to breathe, and the way his breathing sounded wasn't good. Don moved his hand behind Leo's head to help him look up. It felt like ages since they had left, since he had last seen Leo. His condition had done everything but improved. "How are you feeling? Don't speak if it hurts."

Leo stared quietly before he slowly moved his hand to grab Don's arm, blinking harshly to keep his vision from swimming. His eyes moved to Raph when he walked back into the room, holding some blankets. Leo watched as Raph draped two of them over Don, his gaze moving to Mikey who was coming back with the bags.

"All-", Leo started, forcing his lost voice to come back, but he couldn't do it without it hurting. He shut his eyes, holding Don's arm a bit tighter.

"It's alright, Leo, you don't need to talk", Don spoke calmly as he put a hand inside the bag Mikey had brought, fishing for something.

" _Safe?_ " Leo breathed out the end of his sentence, trying to make it sound like a question. Don paused for a moment before understanding, and when he did, he couldn't help placing his hand on Leo's cheek, giving him a reassuring look.

"We're all here and safe, Leo", Don said warmly, making all of them feel a slight pinch inside; Leo was barely conscious and speaking obviously hurt, yet this was something he _had_ to make sure of. Even though he could see them around him, he still had to hear it.

"Idiot…" Raph muttered, moving closer to Leo's head so he could hold it while Don took out a stethoscope.

"How did you even know to take one of those with us", Raphael mumbled, looking at the stethoscope in Don's hands.

"I just had that feeling, and it didn't take much room, so." Don shrugged. "Mike, could you help me to move Leo onto his side?"

Michelangelo did as requested, and while he did, Don gave him a quick glance. "You alright, Mikey?"

Mikey looked up, slightly surprised, nodding shortly. Don could see he was shaken up, but he returned his attention to Leo, listening to his lungs with the stethoscope. Even without using the wheezing in Leo's breathing could be heard. And as Don had suspected, a slight crackle was audible in his lungs. With a frown he put the stethoscope away.

"Well?" Raph was and sounded impatient. He always was when his brothers were hurt, feeling impatient if he couldn't be helping in some way.

"Well, I think he shouldn't be staying on the floor", Don said simply, then shivering a bit and drawing the blankets tighter around himself. "Neither should any of us."

After they had moved Leo to the bedroom into a real bed Don made a quick visit to the kitchen, going through the cabinets to find something for Leo's cough, his search successful. He returned with his findings, setting them aside as he continued checking on Leo. Once Raph made sure that Don was keeping the blanket around him to get warmer he went back to the living area with Mikey, the intruder thing still bothering the both of them.

"So you're sure you didn't see anyone?" Mikey asked as he looked around in the room. "Because I'm sure that someone was here."

"Don said the marks led away, so whoever was here left before we came", Raph said. "But it doesn't look like they even broke anything, or took anything…"

Mikey's attention caught a paper on the kitchen table. He moved closer, reading it in the light of the flashlight. While he read he let out a laugh, having to cover his mouth with his hand.

"What? You finally lost it?" Raph asked, only half joking. The way Mikey had been glued to his arm, sobbing apologies when he Leo hadn't been breathing Raph wouldn't be surprised if Mikey was a bit out of it right now.

"It was just a friend of April's", Mikey said blankly. "She said she was passing by, trying to get home before the storm got too impossible, and saw the door was open, so decided to see if somebody had tried to break into the shop."

Mikey pressed his hand against his face. All that panicking and hiding, forcing Leo to be quiet- for pretty much nothing.

He felt Raph put a hand on his shoulder, and Mikey sighed. It didn't matter; everything would be fine now. Don was looking after Leo-

Don's yell filled the apartment, and the note was forgotten as they dashed towards the bedroom.

It had been too early to think that everything would be alright.


	5. Chapter 5

Donatello was sprawled on the floor next to the bed, Leonardo hovering over him. The eldest had his fist raised, ready to punch down, but Don was easily holding his wrist and preventing him from doing so. It didn't look like Leo was really even trying; they could see how he trembled from simply holding himself up and above Don, muscles tense from the pain he was clearly in.

"Leo, it's just me– You're safe", Don was talking in a calm tone despite the situation, trying to get eye-contact with Leo, but the leader was only squeezing his eyes shut, letting out a sound resembling a growl, which quickly turned into a pained whimper.

"Can't- hurt", Leo spoke brokenly through gritted teeth, using the hand he had been supporting himself to wrap it around Don's throat. Without the support he collapsed on top of Don, but kept his hold on his throat.

"Don!" Raph was the first to break away from the surprise and impossibility of the scene, hurrying next to his brothers on the floor. Don glanced at it him, and didn't seem to be shaken even though Leo had his hand around his throat.

"I'm fine, Raph", Don hurried to say. "He doesn't have the strength to hurt me- his hand is just there. I think he's hallucinating, it must be the-"

Leo was suddenly withdrawing his hand, holding it against his chest as he wheezed, trying to curl away from the pain, but there was no escaping something that came from the inside. Raphael's hands wrapped around Leonardo, carefully dragging him away from Donatello so that he could get up from the floor.

Leo's eyes shot open; someone was holding him from behind, making him ignore the pain in his chest as he struggled again, trying to break free from his captor. Raph adjusted his grip so that he could press Leo's arms flat against his sides so he couldn't try to punch anyone anymore. Even though he hadn't had the strength to hurt Don, they knew Leo could land sudden, painful punches even in a condition like this if he felt like he – or someone else – was in danger.

"Leo, it's us! You gotta calm down, bro!" Mikey had kneeled next to Leo, wrapping his arms around him to pull him into a tight embrace. "Nobody's trying to hurt us!"

Leo's struggling ceased, and he looked around himself, dazed.

"No?" Leo asked weakly, his voice hoarse. Don had crawled closer, and was carefully lifting his hand to touch Leo's cheek in order to turn his head so that he could focus on Don's face.

"No, Leo. We're safe", Don reassured him. Mikey drew away, relieved that Leo had calmed down.

Leonardo opened his mouth to say something, but shut it quickly, only letting out a sharp hiss. The three of them tensed instantly, thinking that Leo was still seeing something that wasn't real– but Leo was pushing his head against Raph who still held him, not struggling against him, but squirming anyways.

"H'rts…" Leo whimpered weakly, head drooping. Raph hadn't been holding him with much strength, but softened his hold anyways.

"Your chest, right?" Don asked with concern, and Leo nodded weakly, letting out a shaky breath.

"It could be pneumonia", Don said gravely, making Mikey's eyes widen. He had had it once when just a kid, and the distant memory wasn't pleasant. He didn't remember much, luckily, but remembered how hard it had been to simply breathe, remembered how hurt his chest had been. And definitely remembered how worried Master Splinter and his brothers had been.

"But- isn't that-", Mikey started, clearly worried, but Don gave him a reassuring look.

"It doesn't mean it's life-threating. We have medicine and other supplies we didn't have back when we were kids", Don explained, clearly thinking about their childhood as well. They moved Leo back to the bed, and Don covered him with a blanket. Raph and Mikey could see that a bottle of some kind of medicine had been knocked over, probably when Leo had managed to fall off of the bed with Don. The contents of the bottle had been slightly spilled, but luckily not too badly.

"Um", Don started, glancing at Raph and Mikey after picking the bottle up. "This whole thing began when I was trying to make him take the medicine– so, could you hold him still in case he...?"

"Sure", Raph said, but Mikey wasn't moving, only looked to the side. Don seemed to notice, and glanced at him questioningly, only causing Mikey to fidget nervously.

"I, uh, I think I know why he doesn't let you give him that", Mikey said, still looking away. Don glanced at Raph, but he seemed as clueless as he was.

"Mikey?" Don asked gently. "This wasn't the first time he's done this?"

"When- when we were hiding... I had to keep Leo silent- I had to _force_ him to be silent and– "

Don placed the bottle back on the table, motioning with his hand for Mikey to come closer. Mikey glanced at him, hesitantly sitting down on the bed next to Don, who reassuringly touched Mikey's arm.

"It's alright, Mikey. You didn't do anything wrong, you were keeping him safe."

"There wasn't even anything threatening us", Mikey protested, his head down.

"You didn't know that." Don wrapped his arm around Mikey, pulling him against him. Mikey wrapped both of his arms around him in return, needing the comfort. It had been a long day.

Had Don known Leo would be getting so bad he definitely wouldn't left them alone. But it wasn't like he had had a choice, but still – the experience seemed to have shaken Mikey quite a lot. Don still didn't know everything that happened while he had been gone, but he knew he didn't want to make Leo panic again. Both Mikey and Leo needed to rest.

After a moment Mikey hesitantly pulled away, and Don gave him a smile before turning his attention back to Leo. Gently, he reached for him, shaking his shoulder lightly, calling for his name. Leo's eyes opened, and he seemed just as dazed as before.

"Leo, I got some medicine that'll help. Think you could take it?"

Leo looked like he didn't quite understand, or perhaps he was too tired to react in any way, so Don poured some of the medicine on the spoon, hoping that this time Leo wouldn't make him drop it. He brought his hand closer to Leo's face, and at least he wasn't drawing away. He ended up hesitantly opening his mouth, and Don held his head up as he gave the medicine to him.

They were silent for a moment, only watching as Don placed a new towel on Leo's forehead. The high fever was concerning, but at least Leo wasn't hallucinating anymore. Or at the moment, at least. Don let out a sigh.

"We're going to need some antibiotics." Don stroked Leo's cheek carefully as the other one struggled to breathe. "And guess what we _don't_ have."

Raph groaned, folding his arms across his chest. They'd _still_ have to go outside?

"But", Don continued, turning to look at Raph and Mikey. "Nobody's going anywhere, not for a while, at least. We have to get it before morning, but we should rest for a few hours. We've all been up since the morning, and I don't know about you, but I'm beat. Nothing good would come out of going out now."

Upon getting the time to think about their own levels of tiredness, both Raph and Mikey had to admit that sleep sounded really great right about then.

"Expect for me and Leo", Mikey couldn't help but crack a joke out of the situation. "We've been _down_ quite a lot." Don raised a brow; he still didn't know about Raph finding Mikey and Leo from the floor and everything that had happened. Raph only looked at Mikey dryly, grabbing the tails of his bandana and bringing him a bit closer.

"Hey!" Mikey protested, even though Raph wasn't really hurting him.

"Ya still have a lot of explaining to do, Mikey", Raph said, giving the youngest a long look. Mikey looked better than earlier, but he sure had worried Raph.

"I'd like to hear everything that's happened as well", Don said, eyeing his brothers. Even though they all wanted to sleep, there were still things to do. "But first, we should move the food supplies to the shop. Since the power's out the fridge isn't working, and the shop should be cold enough for them."

Raph got up and moved towards the door to get to work, but Don stopped him.

"Not you, Raph", he said, making Raph raise a brow. "I'll do it with Mikey. You stay here with Leo."

"Wh- why not you? You know what to do if something happens and–"

Donatello glanced down at Raphael's arm. The bandaging Don had done earlier had moved a bit, and the wound had bled through. Raph grimaced, having hoped that Don would've forgotten about it. Of course he hadn't.

Well, truth to be told, Raph was kind of glad Don hadn't. The pain had never left, he had just ignored it since there hadn't been time to do anything about it. Now that nothing was happening the pain reminded him of its existence, and Raph really hadn't been looking forward to lifting anything.

"Prepare yourself for some stitching", Don warned before he left.

Raph searched for the bottle of painkillers, downing a few of them before he sat back down on the bed, leaning against the end of it, half-lying, half-sitting. He knew if he lied down he'd just fall asleep, but he couldn't do that yet.

He could hear Mikey and Don shuffling around in the stairs and the wind howling outside, but mainly he heard Leo fighting to keep himself breathing. He was breathing too fast, taking only short, quick breaths to avoid breathing too deeply. Raph could only guess that taking a deep breath was causing his chest to hurt.

"Pneumonia, huh…" Raph said silently after a while, moving onto his side so he could place a hand on Leo's shoulder. He did it carefully to not startle his brother, kind of expecting Leo to attack him or something, but his brother didn't react to the touch. Raph hoped it was because Leo wasn't so out of it anymore, not because he was too exhausted to do anything. He wasn't even sure if the older turtle was awake or not.

"How come it's always you who draws the short straw?" Raph mumbled, gently rubbing Leo's shoulder. To his surprise Leo opened his eyes, moving his head towards him. He didn't say anything, though; only looked at him with tired eyes.

Before Raphael could say anything more Donatello walked back in, a medical kit in his hand, and a glass of water in the other. He placed the glass on the table, climbing on the bed next to Raph. While Don prepared the needle Raph kept his hand on Leo's shoulder, keeping it there until the leader's eyes closed again.

Don took out the needle, adjusting the flashlight so that he could see better, removing the gauze and getting to work. Raph looked outside, but could see nothing but their reflection on the window. The room was filled with the flashlight's light, causing the reflection.

"Wonder for how long the power's gonna be out", Raph mumbled, trying to keep his attention on somewhere else than the needle on his skin. "Some hot water would be nice."

"I agree", Don said. Thankfully he was warm enough to not shiver anymore, otherwise he wouldn't be able to stitch Raphael's wound without causing unnecessary discomfort.

"Where'd you leave Mikey?"

"He's trying to make us something to eat, but it's a bit hard when we can't warm anything. Some hot soup really wouldn't hurt." He wasn't very hungry, but anything warm would've been welcome.

Raph could tell that Don was almost finished. Don was able to work fast, and still do the stitching properly. Stitching was never pleasant – so Raph was glad that Don had learned to do it so quickly. Raph could still remember the few first times; Don had been skilled even then, but he had definitely gotten better.

"I take it you already took some painkillers?" Don asked, wrapping a bandage over the stitched wound before placing the equipment back into the medical kit. Don placed the kit away, moving to the other side of the bed to grab the glass of water he had brought with him earlier.

"Yep", Raph answered, moving his arm a bit to test the bandaging. The painkillers were starting to work, which he was glad for.

"Leo", Don spoke to the leader, leaning towards him, carefully touching his chin. "You awake?"

By the rapid breathing Don expected him to be, but he asked anyways, if just to get his attention. Leo's eyes cracked open, and Don gave him a small smile. "Think you could drink a bit?"

Leo's eyes moved to the water in Don's hand, and after a moment of hesitating, he weakly shook his head.

"Your body has lost a lot of fluids-"

But Leo had already closed his eyes and turned his head away. Don sighed; his big brother often found the wrong time to be stubborn.

"Leo…" Don tried to persuade him, hand still under his chin, so he could easily pull Leo's face back towards himself. "Just a little bit. It's just water, this time."

Leo hastily met Don's eyes, since he couldn't stop Don from turning his face towards his. Leo seemed to be considering the offer, his gaze moving down to the cup of water, eyeing it as if it was some kind of an enemy. It would've been almost amusing, had the situation not been what it was.

Don was patient, exhausted after everything that had happened, but there was no hurry now. Nobody would be going out for a while, and hopefully the wind would calm down by the time they'd have to go. And Leo certainly wouldn't be moving anywhere. Maybe Leo's condition would get better with a long, uninterrupted rest. So he waited for Leo to make up his mind, knowing that Leo would eventually have to accept his fate and drink the water.

Instead of agreeing to drink Leo met Don's gaze again, looking at him like he was… pleading with his eyes. Don tilted his head at the look, moving his hand from Leo's chin down to his shoulder, holding it soothingly. He was watching Leo's face carefully, trying to understand what was going through his mind. Speaking had been very difficult for him earlier, Don didn't expect – or even want – Leo to try that right now.

Leo's gaze didn't stay on him for very long; he looked away as if ashamed.

"Leo?" Don tried asking, still not wanting the other to talk, but not quite understanding why Leo was so stubbornly refusing the water. "I understand that your throat hurts, but after drinking this I'll let you rest. Just one glass, okay?"

Don was already lifting Leo's head, bringing the glass closer once again. Instead of turning his head away Leo whimpered in protest, causing Don to hesitate. Leo sounded so weak, it was so rare to hear Leo voice his pain – and now he was obviously voicing it, looking at Donatello with the same pleading look he had used earlier.

Don gave Raph a helpless glance, wondering if there was something more about Leo's condition that he should know. When he had moved their belongings with Mikey he had gotten a short version of today's happenings, and definitely hadn't liked what he had heard. Mikey and Leo had been in serious trouble, both of them passed out in the cold- Don was truly glad that Raph had gotten back in time.

…And not just for Leo and Mikey, but for himself, too. He shivered at the memory of the cold, snowy alley.

Raph returned his gaze looking just as clueless, and both of them turned their attention back to Leo, who was now looking almost anxiously at the glass of water.

"C'mon Leo, it's only water", Raph said, and Don decided that they'd be still sitting here in the morning if he didn't make Leo drink the water now. So much for the patience. He brought the glass to Leo's lips, and when Leo tried to escape by turning his head Raph leaned closer, helping Don to keep him still. Leo could only mumble in protest, but Don was already lifting the glass, forcing Leo to drink the liquid. For a moment he feared that Leo would just keep his mouth shut, but he ended up giving up and drinking the water. Don poured it down slowly, letting Leo take short breaks. It was clear that Leo had difficulty swallowing the liquid- his whole body was tense as he drank, his hands gripping the bed sheets. Raph gave Don a worried glance, but the glass was almost empty now. Don made Leo drink the whole glass, carefully lowering his head back to the pillows after he was finished.

Leo was gasping for air, like drinking the water had taken more effort than running through the whole sewer system. Leo had lifted his hand up to his chest, pressing down on it, but it wasn't bringing much comfort. Now Donatello looked worried as well, returning the gaze Raphael had given him before looking back at Leonardo. Drinking a glass of water shouldn't take this much effort, and certainly shouldn't leave Leo breathless and shaking. Don put the empty glass away, lifting the wet cloth from Leo's forehead. It was all warm now, and when Don placed his hand on Leo he frowned. Was the fever rising again?

Leo was calming down, still breathing too harshly, but slowly it got even a bit easier. Leo turned his head away from them, keeping his eyes tightly shut.

"Sorry, Leo", Don said, placing his hand over Leo's hand still clutching at his chest, carefully bringing it down on the bed. Leo didn't react, and Don sighed. "The water helps you to cool down inside. Prepare yourself for another glass in a while."

Leo dragged the blanket over his head, his opinion on the matter pretty clear. Despite his worry Don rolled his eyes, patting the blankets where he assumed Leo's shoulder was.

"Try to get some sleep."

They stayed with him until he fell asleep, still hearing the whistle in his breathing, but unable to do anything else for it right now. After making sure that Leonardo was a comfortable as they could make him they left the room, looking for Michelangelo in hopes of food.

"Can't warm up anything, but food is food, hot or not!" Mikey said as soon as he saw them, his mouth already full of bread and jam.

"Yes, but keep the blanket over you", Don advised, draping the fabric tighter around Mikey, who was too focused on munching his food to notice that the blanket had started to slip off of him.

"You too, Don", Raph mumbled, throwing a blanket over Don, since he had kind of dropped the one he had given earlier when Leo had decided that throwing Don to the floor was a good idea.

"I'm not letting go of this blanket for the next week", Don shivered, sitting down next to Mikey and reaching for the bread. "The last thing we need is for all of us to get sick."

"Hey, being sick means that you get to lie down and read comics. No training!"

Raphael was about to smack him, but halted when he remembered that Mikey had hit his head earlier.

The wind howled outside while they ate, never letting them forget what they'd still have to face later. But sleep came first, and they decided to take turns watching Leo. Raph took the first watch, taking one of Mikey's comics with him so he that he would have something to keep him from falling asleep. Most of the comics had been left to the abandoned bags, but at least Mikey would have a few. Hopefully that would be enough to keep him from being too annoying, in case they'd be trapped here for more than a few days.

Raph was turning the page when he heard Leo shifting, and he raised his head. The room was dim, the only light still coming from the flashlight, but Raph could still see how Leo was curling up. Or at least trying to; he had pushed the blanket down, and Raph could see how he held his chest, gasping for breath.

The comic was abandoned when Raph moved to sit next to him, pulling the blanket back up and gently rubbed the upper part of Leo's shell.

"Take it easy", Raph said quietly, glancing towards the glass on the table. Don had told him to make Leo drink something to keep him hydrated, but Leo had seemed to be in so much pain the last time they had made him drink that Raph hesitated. Dehydration was a much bigger problem than some pain while drinking, but Raph hated to see his brothers in any kind of pain.

Raphael snaked his hand behind Leonardo's head, and the eldest immediately opened his eyes. So here it was, it was Raph's turn to be the imaginary enemy – but Leo didn't attack, only pushed back against Raph's hand, turning his head and pressing his forehead against Raph's arm.

"Don't make me", Leonardo whispered pathetically, and Raph had to blink a few times, trying to understand. He hadn't even grabbed the glass yet – oh. Perhaps Leo had expected it when Raph had placed his hand behind him, since they always lifted his head when he had to drink.

"You shouldn't be talking", was all Raph could say, unsure what to do. He knew Leo needed to drink, but to force him was… Raph looked at the glass. It was just water. "One glass, Leo. C'mon, sit up."

He dragged Leo up despite his protesting mumbling, holding him steady with one hand and grabbing the water with the other. Jeez, Leo could take down a whole army of Foot ninja on his own, but couldn't drink one glass of water.

Leo winced, but had no way to escape. His last option was to keep his mouth shut, and that was exactly what he did. Even when Raph brought the glass to his lips he held his mouth shut.

"Come on, you drank this when Don offered it, why not now? Don't be a brat, that's Mikey's job", Raph grumbled, pushing the glass harder against Leo. The leader lifted his hand, pushing Raph's hand away, and Raph let him.

"I heard… you talking", Leo said, having to force the words out of his abused throat.

"Don't try to change the subject", Raph muttered, silencing Leo by lifting his hand back up and pushing the glass back towards him. "Just drink."

Leo didn't, and Raph was starting to lose his patience.

"Look, Leo, I don't want to force you but you leave me no choice-"

Leo only turned his head away. Raph growled – if Leo wanted to be difficult, fine! Raph wouldn't rest until this glass was empty. He grabbed Leo's chin, surprising him as he harshly yanked his face towards him.

"Wait, Raph-", Leo tried, but Raph had already tilted his head back and pressed against the sides of his jaw, forcing Leo's mouth open. Leonardo grabbed Raph's wrists, but didn't have the strength to make him let go. Raph tilted the glass, and Leo had no choice but to drink unless he wanted to spill the water everywhere. He tried to be careful, letting Leo have breaks, but it still didn't seem easy for Leo.

Once it was over Raph felt relieved, at least until Leo slumped down and put a hand over his mouth, coughing harshly. Raph rubbed his shell once again, waiting for the coughing to die down.

"Hey, you did it", Raph said when Leo was able to calm down, helping him to lie down again. Leo only gave him a very dry look.

"That was", _cough,_ "unnecessary", Leo muttered.

"You wanted to do it the hard way", Raph said, draping the blanket over him again.

"It hurts, Raph", Leo said, coughing weakly before continuing. "It _burns._ You wouldn't want to drink either, if-"

Leonardo broke into another coughing fit, and Raph held his hand on his shoulder, hating how harsh the coughing was.

"You'd better stop talking", Raph said when Leo was able to listen. The leader stared at the wall with hazy eyes, exhausted from the rough coughing.

"You're not going anywhere", Leo spoke stubbornly after collecting himself, pushing the blanket away, but Raphael only drew it back over him. Leonardo scowled, pushing the blankets again, but Raphael held them in place, a bit amused that he had so much control over Leonardo. Especially when it was something this little, like how high the blanket was.

"What do you mean?" Raph asked, trying to sound like he had no idea what Leo was talking about. Apparently Leo had heard their earlier conversation, but it didn't really surprise him. Well, perhaps a bit, they had thought that Leo was asleep. Leo groaned, not wanting to speak, but forcing himself to do it anyways.

"You know what I mean", he muttered.

"Nope, no idea", Raph said, pulling the blanket over Leo's mouth to monetarily silence him. "And you'd better continue sleeping."

Leo still mumbled something. He never liked to be told what to do, even if it was for his own good. Raph received his harsh glaring, but didn't take the blanket away until Leo gave up sending daggers with his eyes. Raph allowed the blanket to drop down to Leo's chin, but still held the edge of the blanket in his hand, not allowing Leo to push the blanket away, trapping him into the bed. Eventually Leo's breathing calmed down, indicating that he was asleep. If he'd just _stay_ asleep this time, instead of eavesdropping on them.

Raph was about to pick up the comic he had dropped earlier, when the door softly opened. Don stepped in, rubbing his eyes.

"How is he?" Don whispered as he walked closer, and Raph shrugged.

"He just drank. Really resisted, though."

Donatello looked at Leo, but didn't dare to interrupt his sleep. Instead he turned towards Raph, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I've been thinking about who should come with me to get the antibiotics", Don started, still whispering. "But I don't know. Mikey has a concussion, I think – remind me to wake him up soon to check on him – and your arm is hurt. I'd rather let you both rest."

"You're not going alone out there", Raph said sharply, stepping between the door and Don as if he had been planning on dashing out of the room.

"I'm not going alone", Don reassured Raph, sighing. "I'm just not sure-"

"Nobody… goes", Leo rasped from the bed, startling Don. Raph only groaned.

"How do you do that? I thought you were asleep!"

"I can sense… stupid decisions", Leonardo chuckled weakly, but only received another coughing fit for that. Raphael shook his head while Donatello sat next to Leonardo, helping him to lean forward to ease the coughing.

"It's not a stupid decision, Leo. You need those antibiotics before this gets any worse", Don said sternly, shifting the pillows so that it was more comfortable for Leo to lie down.

"No." Leo looked like he wanted to continue, but didn't have the energy, so a firm "no" was what he settled for. He tried to look commanding, but he looked too weak for it to be convincing.

"Sorry, Leo, but you're sick. Sick leaders can't make decisions."

"I– "

Donatello dragged the blanket over Leo's mouth to keep him silent, and Raph couldn't help but laugh. He had used the exact same method of shutting Leo up. Don turned his head to raise a brow at Raph, but the red turtle only grinned at Leo, who was looking at him wryly.

"Focus on getting some sleep, Leo", Don said as he turned his attention back to the sick turtle.

Leo was giving them both a hard glare, since that was all he could do.

They left the room in order to plan the trip outside. Michelangelo wasn't happy about being woken up, but at least he woke up normally, which was good considering his possible concussion. Although, Michelangelo's way of waking up "normally" consisted of a lot of refusal and just draping the blankets back over his head. Raphael had to drag him out of the bed so that Donatello could properly check on him.

"So. I need one of you to come with me", Donatello started once Michelangelo was at least half-awake. Mikey groaned, leaning back on the bed he was sitting on.

"I think that'll be me", the youngest mumbled, dragging his hand over his face. "I mean, Raph has his hand stitched and… I'm not really good with this fever stuff."

"You took good care of him, Mikey. It wasn't your fault that you got hit by… whatever it was that hit you. My guess would be the snow falling from the roof", Donatello said, thoughtfully looking at the bump on Mikey's head.

"Yeah. Maybe", Mikey said, staring down. Don placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Mikey. You took good care of him", Don comforted him. "Are you sure you can come with me? How does your head feel?"

"It's better. Just a dull ache. I'm more worried about the cold!" Michelangelo wrapped his hands around himself, clattering his teeth overdramatically.

"Alright, so. Raph will stay. Just keep Leo still and make him drink every once in a while", Don instructed while going to get his bag. "Try to make him eat something, too."

"Well, that'll be fun", Raph groaned. If Leo didn't even want to drink, how the hell would he make him eat?

"I'm already cold", Mikey complained, staring out of the window. The wind had calmed down and it wasn't even snowing anymore, but they knew that it'd still be freezing outide.

"Raph, your jacket wasn't as wet as mine was, right?" Donatello asked, already moving towards the bathroom where their clothes were drying. "Mikey, you take Leo's clothing, they should be drier than your own."

"Should be…" Mikey sighed, walking after Don. Raphael watched them with his arms crossed, tapping the floor with his leg.

"You sure you don't want me to go instead, Mike?" Raph asked. "I'd rather do something than just wait for you to come back."

"You'll be doing something", Donatello said while wrapping Leo's scarf around Mikey's neck. "You'll be looking after Leo."

"Right", Raph groaned. "Meaning that I'll be sitting on my butt while he sleeps."

* * *

Raph stood by the door, watching after Don and Mikey until they disappeared behind the snowy corner. With a sigh he turned away and closed the door, staring at the empty shop. Neither Don nor Mikey were on their best, and now they were waddling through the snowy streets. At least Raph had told them to send a message once they reached the drugstore. And it wasn't even that far from here. The trip to the lair had been much longer.

It felt like so much time had passed since they had made their first trip here. Raph wasn't even sure how much the clock was by now. He shuddered – the first floor was cold. He'd better get out of here and check on Leo. Before he went he took some food with him, hoping that he could make Leo eat some without all the resistance he had faced earlier.

Once Raph was in the second floor he shuddered again. The cold seemed to follow him from the shop, clinging to his skin and refusing to let go. He muttered to himself as he carefully pushed open the door to the bedroom, not wanting to wake Leo up.

The cold hadn't followed him from the shop – it was coming from the bedroom. The window was open, and the bed was empty.

His instinct was to drop the items from his hands and draw his weapons. Leo couldn't have moved on his own, and why would he even? Raph stormed to the window, trying to see, but everything was dark. He growled as he turned around to search for the flashlight, putting his other sai away in order to hold the source of light. Raphael was about to climb out through the window, but the cold hit him badly. He cursed, running to get one of the jackets. It was still a bit wet and Raph cursed again, but it was better than nothing. Finally he was able to climb out to the closest roof, wildly glancing around in the light of the flashlight.

He could see footprints, but only Leo's. So he _had_ gotten up and out of the window on his own. Anger flashed over Raph – what was Leo thinking?

And then he realized that he probably wasn't thinking at all. This could be another bright idea caused by the fever, or another hallucination- But he shouldn't have been in the condition to be able to move. Raphael growled at Leonardo's ability to push himself to his limits, following the footsteps. Leo couldn't be that far; even if he managed to ignore the pain he was in, he still couldn't be moving too fast. Raph hadn't even been gone for that long – they had woken up Mikey and talked, and Raph had watched them go, and then he had been back – alright, that had given Leo some time. But still, Raph should be faster.

The footsteps ended when the edge of the roof did, and Raph leaped down. The snow softened his fall, and he quickly spotted the footprints again. He could tell that Leo had fallen over when he had jumped down by the marks on the snow. It would've been a funny mental image if Leo wasn't feverish and running in the snow without anything covering him.

Raph kept running after the marks until they suddenly ended, like Leo had just disappeared. Frustration washed over him; he wasn't exactly thrilled about running around in the snow, the cold already affecting him. Confusion and worry were quick to follow; the more time he wasted the further away Leo got, and the cold was doing everything but disappearing. He looked around, squinting, trying to see if there was something that Leo had jumped on-

Something landed against his shell, sending the flashlight out of his hand as he fell down into the snow. He groaned when the cold snow bit into him, trying to push himself up, but someone had grabbed his arm, twisting it behind his back. Raphael growled; his attacker wasn't very strong, yet had dared to attack him from behind.

Raph kicked back, easily sending his attacker away. He was up on his feet before the other one even hit the snow, leaping over to them, striking down with his sai.

He stopped himself just in time. Few more inches and he would've plunged the blade of his sai right into Leo's eye.


End file.
